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Potato Salad Hot

A hot potato salad made with diced potatoes, parsley, bacon, onions, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 Hot

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fry the chopped bacon in a pan until browned.

  2. Add the chopped onions to the pan and cook until softened.

  3. Stir in the vinegar and diced potatoes.

  4. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

  5. Serve hot.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Parsley + vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the body of the salad, absorbing the warm vinegar and bacon fat.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that coats the potatoes and browns in the pan.
Onions
Soften in the bacon fat, adding sweetness and aromatic depth.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the salad its sharp, tangy flavor.

The step that matters

Stirring in the vinegar and potatoes. Adding the vinegar to hot bacon fat and onions loosens the browned bits and lets the potatoes absorb the acidic liquid. Letting the mixture cook covered for a few minutes helps the potatoes take up flavor before serving.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, 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.

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