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 the potatoes
Pare and boil the potatoes until done.
Slice the boiled potatoes thin while hot.
Peel and finely chop the onion.
Mix the chopped onion with the sliced potatoes.
Make the dressing
Cut the bacon into small bits.
Fry the bacon bits until light brown.
Remove the bacon from the pan.
Stir the vinegar into the bacon grease to make a dressing.
Combine and serve
Pour the dressing and bacon over the potatoes and onion.
Mix lightly.
Serve hot.
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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Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Potato + vinegartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 absorb the dressing while still hot.
- Breakfast bacon
- Adds savory, browned flavor and fat that carries into the dressing.
- White onion
- Adds sharp, aromatic bite that balances the richness of the bacon.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and cuts the fat of the bacon grease.
The step that matters
Slice the boiled potatoes thin while hot.. Warm potatoes take in dressing more readily because their starch is soft and open, so the flavor soaks through. Once they cool and firm up, the dressing mostly coats the surface.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, vinegar):
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Radishfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, 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.
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