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
Cut cold boiled potatoes into thick slices.
Slice hard boiled eggs.
Slice the onion.
Combine and dress
Combine potatoes, eggs, onion, and parsley in a bowl.
Pour salad dressing over the mixture and toss gently.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,978 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled potatoes
- Form the bulk of the salad and hold their shape when sliced thick.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Add richness and a soft, creamy texture to the salad.
- Salad dressing
- Adds moisture and fat that coat the potatoes and bind the salad together.
The step that matters
Toss the potatoes gently with the dressing. Cold potato slices are fragile and break apart under vigorous mixing, turning the salad mushy. Gentle folding coats the pieces evenly while keeping their shape.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, parsley):
- Chivefits better
- Carrotfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, 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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