Name: Cold Meat and Potato Salad
Ingredients: 1 pound cold meat, cut into 1-inch squares; 1 pint cold boiled potatoes, chopped; Parsley, chopped; Celery, chopped; Onion, chopped; Salad dressing (oil, vinegar, salt, and white pepper)

Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cold Meat and Potato Salad

Ingredients

1 pound cold meat, cut into 1-inch squares
1 pint cold boiled potatoes, chopped
Parsley, chopped
Celery, chopped
Onion, chopped
Salad dressing (oil, vinegar, salt, and white pepper)

Directions

Assemble

In a salad bowl, layer half of the meat and potatoes.
Sprinkle with parsley, celery, and onion.
Moisten with salad dressing.
Repeat layers until all ingredients are used.

Rest and serve

Let the salad stand for 2 to 3 hours before serving.

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.

Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cold meat: Provides the main protein and substance of the salad.
Cold boiled potatoes: Add bulk and a soft texture that absorbs the dressing.
Celery: Adds a crisp, fresh crunch that contrasts with the soft potatoes.
Onion: Adds sharp, pungent flavor that mellows during standing.

The step that matters

Let the salad stand for 2 to 3 hours before serving. Standing lets the dressing soak into the potatoes and meat, so flavors blend and the salad is evenly seasoned rather than wet on top and bland inside.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, potato, parsley, celery, onion, vinegar):

Thymefits better
Garlicfits better
Dillfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, potato, parsley, celery, 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.

Chicken Salad623 recipes

Salad Dressing491 recipes

Tomato Salad179 recipes

Cold Slaw160 recipes

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Cold Meat and Potato Salad