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; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 1 teaspoon anchovy sauce; coarse sea salt to taste

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 mix well.
Season with coarse sea salt to taste.
Pour in the olive oil and vinegar, then stir to combine.
Finally, add the anchovy sauce and mix thoroughly.

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: Powdered eggs give the salad a soft, creamy body and bulk.
Boiled potatoes: Sieved potatoes form the smooth, creamy base that holds the salad together.
Olive oil: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and softening the texture.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the salad and balances the rich oil and eggs.
Mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the richness of the eggs and oil.

The step that matters

Pass the boiled potatoes through a sieve for smoothness. Potatoes must be hot or freshly boiled and pressed while still warm so they break down into a smooth purée. Cold or overworked potatoes turn gummy or lumpy, and the texture of the whole salad depends on this base.

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.