Why it works: Potato and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Irish Potato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Peel the hot Irish potatoes and cut them into thin, round slices.
Boil the eggs until hard, then mash the yolks in a bowl.
Mix the mashed yolks with vinegar, mustard, coarse sea salt, and a pinch of sugar.
Place the potato slices in a salad dish and pour the sauce over them.
Garnish with the egg whites cut into rings.
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 + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,340 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,424 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, mustard, sugar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, mustard, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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