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Potato Salad

A salad of boiled potatoes, onion, and a dressing of eggs, butter, vinegar, mustard, sour cream, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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 ↓

Potato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the potatoes

  1. Boil six large potatoes with skins on.

  2. Peel before they are quite cool.

  3. Slice thick.

  4. Mix well with one good sized onion sliced.

  5. Sprinkle with pepper and salt.

Make the dressing

  1. Beat two eggs.

  2. Add two tablespoons butter.

  3. Add three tablespoons vinegar (strong).

  4. Add one-half teaspoon salt.

  5. Add one-half teaspoon mustard.

  6. Cook slowly in double boiler, stirring often.

Combine and serve

  1. Pour over potatoes, mixing well together.

  2. Just before serving stir in half cup sour cream.

  3. Slice one hard boiled egg over the top.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

497Calories
29 gProtein
18 gFat
56 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Mustard + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten and cooked into the dressing, thickening it into a creamy binder.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dressing, softening its sharp vinegar flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the dressing its tangy, sharp flavour.
Sour cream
Adds creaminess and moisture, mellowing the dressing just before serving.
Potatoes
Form the bulk of the salad and soak up the dressing as they are mixed.

The step that matters

Cook the dressing slowly in a double boiler, stirring often. Egg proteins set gently when heated slowly and evenly. Too much heat or too little stirring can curdle the eggs and leave the dressing lumpy instead of smooth.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, vinegar, cream, potato, onion, egg, pepper):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, vinegar, cream, potato, onion, egg, pepper. 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.

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