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
Prepare
Peel and boil three good sized potatoes.
When cold, cut them into thin slices and mix them carefully with one onion chopped very fine.
Dress and serve
Pour the dressing over the potatoes: one teaspoon of salt, one saltspoonful of black pepper, nine tablespoonful of olive oil, and three of vinegar.
Stir thoroughly until the salt has all been dissolved.
Sprinkle the dish with parsley chopped fine.
Put in a cold place for an hour or two.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 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.
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.
-
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,458 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + teatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together136 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the body of the salad, holding their shape when cooked and cooled and sliced.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat and richness, coating the potato slices and carrying flavour through the dressing.
- Onion
- Adds a sharp, aromatic bite that cuts through the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Let the potatoes cool before slicing. Potatoes firm up as they cool, so cold slices hold their shape when mixed. Slicing them hot makes them crumble and turn mushy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, potato, tea, olive):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, potato, tea, olive. 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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