Name: German Potato Salad
Yield: 5
Ingredients: 1 ¾ lbs (790 g ) red potatoes; 4 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 tbsp mayonnaise; 5 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 2 tbsp Riesling wine; 4 tbsp beef stock; 4 tbsp chicken stock; 8 tbsp chopped red onion; ¼ tsp salt; ¼ tsp pepper; 1 tbsp wheat flour; 1 tbsp sugar; 1 tbsp coarse prepared mustard; 1 tbsp chopped green onions; ¼ lb (113 g) uncooked chopped bacon

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).
Beef + chickentop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,148 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together235 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Potato + chickentop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,756 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

What each ingredient does

Red potatoes: Form the bulk of the salad and hold their shape when boiled and sliced.
Bacon: Adds savoury, smoky flavour and crisp texture, and its fat carries flavour into the sauce.
Wheat flour: Thickens the bacon fat into a smooth sauce that coats the potatoes.
Apple cider vinegar: Adds acidity that gives the sauce its characteristic tang and balances the fat.
Sugar: Adds a little sweetness to balance the sharpness of the vinegar and wine.
Red onion: Adds sharp, pungent flavour and crunch to the salad.

The step that matters

Cook the flour in the bacon fat without browning. Flour must be cooked briefly and smoothly in the fat so it thickens the sauce without lumps or a browned, toasted taste; heating too hard or too long can scorch it.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, apple cider vinegar, wine, beef, chicken, pepper, wheat):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits about as well
Onionthe original
Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, apple cider vinegar, wine, beef, chicken, pepper, wheat. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Wheat	not in our table	0

German Potato Salad