Name: Salads, Sauces, and Pickles
Ingredients: 2 hard-boiled eggs, powdered; 2 boiled potatoes, mashed; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon mustard; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ cup olive oil; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 1 tablespoon anchovy sauce

Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Salads, Sauces, and Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the powdered eggs and mashed potatoes until smooth.
Add the chopped onion and mustard, mixing well.
Stir in the coarse sea salt, olive oil, and vinegar.
Finally, add the anchovy sauce and mix until well combined.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,458 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,340 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

Hard-boiled eggs: Provide the bulk and creamy body of the salad when powdered.
Potatoes: Add starch and body, giving the salad a soft, spreadable texture.
Olive oil: Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and smooths the mixture.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness.
Mustard: Adds sharp flavour and helps emulsify the oil into the mixture.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, onion, mustard, olive, vinegar, anchovy, sauce):

Horseradishfits better
Shallotfits better
Chivefits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, onion, mustard, olive, vinegar, anchovy, sauce. 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.