Name: Ecuadorian Beet Salad
Ingredients: 3/4 cup cubed cooked and peeled potatoes; 1/2 cup chopped cooked carrots; 1/2 cup chopped cooked beets; 1 finely chopped hardboiled egg; 1 small chopped very fine red onion; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 2 tablespoons water; 1 teaspoon salt; cooked white rice

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. 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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + carrottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + ricetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together851 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Carrot + ricetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,477 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Lemon juice: Provides the tangy acidity that brightens the flavour of the salad.
Vegetable oil: Adds fat and a smooth, coating moisture to the mixed vegetables.
Potatoes: Add bulk and a soft, starchy texture that holds the salad together.
Beets: Add their earthy sweetness and the salad's characteristic deep colour.
Hardboiled egg: Adds richness and a firm, creamy texture to the salad.

The step that matters

Taste and adjust the seasoning. Acid from the lemon and salt both shape how the dish tastes, and their balance is hard to judge before mixing. Tasting after combining lets the cook correct sourness or saltiness by adding more, since the flavours are only fully blended once everything is mixed.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, carrot, egg, onion, rice):

Avocadofits better
Coconutfits better
Limefits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, carrot, egg, onion, rice. 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
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Beet	1/2 cup (85g)	35
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Ecuadorian Beet Salad