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
Peel and cut the Irish potatoes into medium-sized pieces.
Boil the potatoes in salted water until nearly done, then drain.
Make the dressing and combine
In a separate saucepan, combine vinegar, butter, egg yolks, sweet cream, and mustard; beat well.
Add the sliced onions to the potatoes, then pour the mixture over them.
Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,340 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Irish potatoes
- Form the bulk of the salad and absorb the dressing as they cook and cool.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the dressing and give it a smooth, rich body when gently heated.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Sweet cream
- Adds moisture and creaminess, mellowing the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances its richness.
- Mustard
- Adds sharpness and helps emulsify the dressing.
The step that matters
Simmer the dressing gently after adding the mixture. Egg yolks thicken from gentle heat but can scramble if overheated, leaving the dressing grainy. Keep the heat low and stir steadily during the 10-15 minutes of simmering.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, vinegar, butter, egg, cream, onion):
- Chivefits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Spinachfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, vinegar, butter, egg, cream, onion. 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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