Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
French Potato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the potatoes
Place the potatoes in cold water in their jackets, adding a good teaspoonful of salt.
Boil the potatoes until they are tender, then simmer gently until quite tender.
When cold, peel the potatoes and cut them into thin rounds.
Dress and serve
Lay the rounds in a dish, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.
Saturate the potatoes with oil and vinegar, using about equal amounts, at least three spoonfuls of vinegar to four of oil.
Optionally add thinly sliced onions, either spring or Spanish, or a very small piece of garlic, finely shredded, for extra flavor.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| 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.
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,477 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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, becoming tender and absorbing the dressing.
- Oil
- Adds richness and carries flavor, coating the potato slices with fat.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
The step that matters
Saturate the potatoes with the dressing. Potatoes are most flavorful when the dressing is worked into them while still warm and porous. Cold, dry slices stay bland on the surface, so the oil and vinegar should be spooned over evenly and given time to soak in.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, parsley):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, parsley. 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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