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Salad

Potato and Cheese Salad

A salad of diced potatoes mixed with a cheese‑based dressing made from water, vinegar, egg, mustard or curry powder, and optional celery or peppers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Potato and Cheese Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Combine water, vinegar, and salt in a saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a simmer.

  3. Beat the egg in a bowl and add mustard or curry powder.

  4. Gradually stir the egg mixture into the simmering water until thickened.

  5. Add the cheese and stir until melted and smooth.

Assemble the salad

  1. Pour the dressing over cubed or diced potatoes and mix well.

  2. Add chopped celery, sweet peppers, or celery seed for variety, if desired.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

  3. Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 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

Egg
Thickens the dressing as it cooks gently into the hot liquid.
Cheese
Melts into the dressing, adding richness and savory flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the cheese.
Potatoes
Form the body of the salad and soak up the dressing.

The step that matters

Gradually stir the egg mixture into the simmering water. Adding beaten egg too quickly can cause it to scramble instead of thickening smoothly. Slow addition while stirring gently spreads the heat so the egg sets into a smooth, even dressing.

Swap the celery

The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, cheese, potato, mustard):

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, cheese, potato, mustard. 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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