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Potato Salad

A chilled layered potato salad with a buttery, cornstarch-thickened dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,458 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Potato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the potatoes

  1. Cook the potatoes with their skins on until tender.

  2. Peel and slice the hot potatoes.

Make the dressing

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter.

  2. Stir in the cornstarch and flour until blended.

  3. Gradually add the warm water and cook until thickened.

  4. In a bowl, mix the mustard, salt, sugar, and egg yolk.

  5. Add the mixture to the cooked mixture along with the vinegar.

  6. Remove from heat.

  7. Stir in the olive oil.

  8. Beat thoroughly.

Assemble and chill

  1. Season each layer with salt, pepper, and a few drops of onion juice.

  2. Layer the potatoes in a dish, adding dressing between each layer.

  3. Cover and let sit for several hours before serving.

  4. Serve very cold on lettuce leaves, garnished with chopped parsley.

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.

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 + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,458 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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 absorb the dressing as they are layered.
Cornstarch
Thickens the warm water into a smooth, stable dressing base.
Egg yolk
Emulsifies and enriches the dressing, adding body and a creamy texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances its richness.
Olive oil
Adds fat and smoothness to the dressing.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor to the base of the dressing.

The step that matters

Stir in the olive oil after removing from heat. Cornstarch thickens only when heated, and very hot dressing can split or curdle once the egg yolk and oil are added. Removing the pan from heat before adding the yolk mixture and oil keeps the emulsion smooth.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, mustard, sugar, egg, vinegar, olive):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, mustard, sugar, egg, vinegar, 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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