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
Boil the vegetables
Boil the potatoes and onions until soft; onions will take about twice as long as potatoes.
Wipe out the pot used for boiling, mash the onions in it.
Combine and serve
Slice the potatoes without mashing them and add to the mashed onions.
Add the butter, pepper, salt, and vinegar.
Heat over the fire, stirring until hot, then serve.
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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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Provide the main body of the salad, holding their shape when sliced rather than mashed.
- Onions
- Add pungent flavour and softness after boiling, mashed into a base for the potatoes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, moist mouthfeel to the warm salad.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the butter.
The step that matters
Boil the onions longer than the potatoes. Onions need about twice as long to soften, so boiling both together would leave the onions firm or the potatoes overcooked. Cooking them separately or staggering them keeps both tender.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, butter, pepper, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter, pepper, 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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