Name: Sweet and Sour Potato Salad
Ingredients: potato salad; 16 med potatoes; 5 eggs, hard-cooked, chopped; 2 1/2 cup pickles, sweet, chopped; 2 tsp celery seeds; 1 tsp mustard, dry; 1 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp pepper; parsley sprigs, opt.; dressing; 3 egg yolks; 1/2 cup sugar; 1/2 cup vinegar; 2 tbsp butter (or marg.); 1 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes: Form the bulk of the salad and hold the dressing as cubed pieces.
Egg yolks: Thicken the cooked dressing and add richness and smoothness.
Vinegar: Adds the sour note that balances the sugar in the dressing.
Sugar: Sweetens the dressing and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and creaminess to the finished dressing.
Sweet pickles: Add sweetness, crunch and tang through the salad.

The step that matters

Cooking the dressing to a boil. Egg yolks thicken only when heated enough to set, but overheating scrambles them. Stir constantly over medium heat so the dressing thickens smoothly without curdling.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, celery, mustard, pepper, parsley, sugar, vinegar):

Horseradishfits better
Shallotfits better
Lettucefits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, celery, mustard, pepper, parsley, sugar, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Celery Seed	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Salad	not in our table	0

Sweet and Sour Potato Salad