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
Boil the potatoes with skins on until tender.
Let the potatoes cool, then slice them.
Marinate the sliced potatoes.
Assemble and serve
Add the fried onion and chopped ham or bacon.
Toss with boiled dressing before serving.
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.
-
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + hamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,159 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Potato + hamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together127 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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 hold their shape when sliced and tossed.
- Boiled dressing
- Adds moisture and a creamy, tangy coating that flavours the potatoes.
- Fried ham or bacon
- Adds smoky, savoury flavour and a little rendered fat.
- Fried onion
- Adds a mild, savoury aroma and bite without the bitterness of browned onion.
The step that matters
Boil the potatoes with skins on until tender. Potatoes boiled in their skins keep their shape better. Overcooking causes the starch to break down, so slices turn mushy and fall apart. Undercooked centres stay firm and resist absorbing the dressing.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, ham):
- Mustardfits better
- Okrafits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, ham. 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
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes
Potato Chips53 recipes
Sweet Potato Croquettes53 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.