Why it works: Potato and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,688 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
- Vinaigrette ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Steam or cook potatoes until just tender.
While potatoes are cooking, prepare dressing: combine all ingredients except oil, then whisk in oil gradually, blending until thoroughly combined.
Assemble the salad
Drain potatoes, cut in half, and toss with dressing.
Let it cool. Add scallions, radishes, and olives and toss together.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve on a bed of lettuce leaves and garnish with feta and salami.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Potato + olivetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,688 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Olive + feta cheesetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,438 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
-
Radish + lettucetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together58 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Olive + lettucetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,400 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Potato + lettucetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together322 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Small red potatoes
- Form the bulk of the salad and absorb the dressing as they cool.
- Olive oil
- Carries the vinaigrette flavour and gives the dressing a smooth, emulsified body.
- Feta cheese
- Adds salty, tangy richness that contrasts with the sharp dressing.
- Dijon mustard
- Helps emulsify the oil and vinegar so the dressing stays combined.
- White wine vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the potatoes and balances the oil.
The step that matters
Whisk in the oil gradually. Adding oil slowly while whisking lets the mustard and vinegar form a stable emulsion, so the dressing stays combined instead of separating on the potatoes.
Flavor stand-ins for the radish
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, olive, lettuce, feta cheese, salami, pepper, white wine):
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Radishthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, olive, lettuce, feta cheese, salami, pepper, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
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