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German Potato Salad

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 ↓

German Potato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the potatoes in their jackets until done.

  2. Let them cool slightly, then slice them.

  3. Add sliced onions to taste.

  4. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, vinegar, and salad oil or roast beef drippings.

  5. Ensure the potatoes are warm and use just enough vinegar to moisten them.

  6. Chop winter lettuce and mix it with the onions for added flavor.

  7. Garnish the dish with the chopped lettuce for an attractive presentation.

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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Potato + lettucetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together322 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 recipes

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

  5. Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

Swap the lettuce

The recipe marks lettuce as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, onion, pepper, vinegar, beef):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, pepper, vinegar, beef. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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