Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓
Potato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the cold boiled potatoes and hard-boiled eggs finely.
Make the salad
In a bowl, combine the chopped potatoes and eggs with pepper, mustard, and salt.
Add the beaten egg, sweet cream, and cider vinegar to the mixture. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
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.
-
Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
-
Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,340 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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 give it a soft, starchy body.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add richness and a soft, creamy texture to the salad.
- Beaten egg
- Binds the mixture together and adds richness as it combines with the other ingredients.
- Sweet cream
- Adds fat and richness, softening the dressing's sharpness.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent flavor that cuts through the richness of the eggs and cream.
The step that matters
Mix well until all ingredients are combined. Thorough mixing spreads the cream, vinegar and beaten egg evenly through the chopped potatoes and eggs. Uneven mixing leaves pockets of sharp vinegar or bland, dry potato.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, mustard, cream, cider, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, mustard, cream, cider, vinegar. 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.
More potato salad recipes
You might also like
Chicken Salad623 recipes
Salad Dressing491 recipes
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.