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Salad

Potato Salad, Hot

A hot potato salad of boiled potatoes, onions, bacon, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 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, Hot

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare six or eight large potatoes, and boil until done.

  2. Slice the potatoes thin while hot.

  3. Peel and cut up three large onions into small bits and mix with the potatoes.

Make the dressing

  1. Cut up some breakfast bacon into small bits, sufficient to fill a teacup, and fry it until light brown.

  2. Remove the bacon from the grease.

  3. Stir three tablespoonfuls of vinegar into the grease, making a sour gravy.

Combine and serve

  1. Pour the bacon and gravy over the potato and onion mixture. Mix lightly.

  2. Serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

208Calories
6 gProtein
0 gFat
47 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3

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

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Vinegar + potatotop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,608 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 bulk of the salad and soften when boiled, then hold the dressing as they are sliced.
Breakfast bacon (in the method)
Adds salty, smoky fat and browned flavour to the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds sourness that turns the bacon fat into a sharp, tangy gravy.
Onions
Add sharp, aromatic flavour that mellows with the warm potatoes.

The step that matters

Pour the bacon and gravy over the potato and onion mixture while hot. Warm potatoes absorb the fat and vinegar dressing far better than cold ones. Mixing lightly keeps the potato slices from breaking apart.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, onion):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Radishfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, onion. 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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