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Spaghetti Salad

A cold salad of spaghetti, boiled potato, hard‑boiled eggs, celery, pimento, tomatoes, seasoned with onion juice, salt, pepper, paprika, and dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓

Spaghetti Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the spaghetti

  1. Take one-fourth package of spaghetti, broken into small pieces, and boil in salted water until soft.

  2. As soon as tender, throw the spaghetti into a bowl of ice water to cool.

  3. When cold, dry the spaghetti on a soft towel.

Make the salad

  1. Mix the spaghetti gently with one boiled white potato, two hard‑boiled eggs, one‑half cup chopped celery, one‑half cup sharp cheese, one‑half teaspoon onion juice, one chopped pimento, and two peeled tomatoes.

  2. Season the mixture to taste with salt, white pepper, and paprika.

  3. Pour a generous quantity of salad dressing over the mixture.

  4. Let the salad stand for half an hour to season.

Serve

  1. Arrange the salad on lettuce leaves with a slice of tomato and half of a stuffed olive on top of each.

  2. Serve cold with cheese wafers.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

317Calories
13 gProtein
6 gFat
55 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pimentonot in our table0

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

By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). 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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  4. Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Spaghetti
Forms the bulk of the salad and holds the other ingredients together.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add richness and body to the salad.
White potato
Adds starchy bulk and a soft texture to the salad.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and fresh flavor.

The step that matters

Drying the spaghetti after cooling. Excess water left on cooled spaghetti dilutes the dressing and makes the salad watery, so the pasta should be patted dry before mixing.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, onion, potato, egg, tomato. 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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