Name: Salads, Sauces, and Pickles
Ingredients: 2 hard-boiled eggs, powdered; 2 boiled potatoes, passed through a sieve; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon mustard; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 1 teaspoon anchovy sauce

Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Salads, Sauces, and Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Powder the hard-boiled eggs and set aside.
Pass the boiled potatoes through a sieve for smoothness.

Make the salad

Combine the eggs, potatoes, and chopped onion in a bowl.
Add the mustard and salt, mixing well.
Stir in the olive oil and vinegar.
Finish with the anchovy sauce and mix until combined.

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.

Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,458 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,340 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

Hard-boiled eggs: Provide the main body and creamy texture of the salad.
Boiled potatoes: Add bulk and a smooth, soft texture when sieved.
Olive oil: Adds fat, richness and moisture to bind the mixture.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness.
Mustard: Adds sharp flavour and helps emulsify the oil into the mixture.

The step that matters

Stirring in the olive oil and vinegar. Adding oil gradually while mixing helps it emulsify into the mashed eggs and potatoes, giving a smooth, cohesive texture rather than a greasy, separated one.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, onion, mustard, olive, vinegar, anchovy, sauce):

Horseradishfits better
Shallotfits better
Chivefits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, onion, mustard, olive, vinegar, anchovy, sauce. 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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Salads, Sauces, and Pickles