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Potato Salad, INo. 2

A potato salad with boiled potatoes, eggs, vinegar, sugar, butter, onion, celery seed, salt, pepper, mustard, and optional ham.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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, INo. 2

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the potatoes and dressing

  1. Boil the potatoes until tender but not too soft, then cut them into chestnut-sized pieces.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the eggs, vinegar, and sugar; boil until thick.

Combine

  1. Melt the butter and pour it over the potatoes.

  2. Add the chopped onion, celery seed, salt, pepper, and mustard to the potatoes.

  3. If desired, mix in a little chopped ham to enhance the flavor.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the salad and hold their shape when cut into pieces.
Eggs
Their proteins set as they heat, thickening the vinegar mixture into a dressing.
Vinegar
Adds the sharp acidity that defines the dressing's tang.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Butter
Adds fat and richness that coat the potatoes and soften the flavor.

The step that matters

Boil the eggs, vinegar, and sugar until thick. Egg proteins set as they heat and thicken the mixture, but if it overheats the eggs can curdle and turn grainy. Stir steadily and remove it once it has thickened.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, vinegar, sugar, butter, onion, pepper. 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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