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
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Slice the old potatoes and place them in a dish.
Chop the white of the hard-boiled egg and add it to the potatoes.
Dress and serve
In a bowl, mix the yolk, water, melted butter, salt, pepper, mustard, and vinegar.
Pour the dressing over the potatoes and egg before serving.
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.
-
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,340 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 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 soak up the dressing's flavour.
- Egg yolk
- Its lecithin helps the butter and vinegar bind into a smoother dressing.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, coating mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the fat.
- Mustard
- Adds sharpness and helps emulsify the dressing.
The step that matters
Mixing the dressing before pouring. Butter and vinegar separate easily, so the yolk, mustard and water must combine them into one emulsion. If the dressing splits, it will pool at the bottom of the dish instead of coating the potatoes and egg evenly.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, butter, pepper, mustard, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Chivefits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, butter, pepper, mustard, 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.
More potato salad recipes
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes
Potato Chips53 recipes
Sweet Potato Croquettes53 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.