Name: Salads, Sauces, and Pickles
Ingredients: 2 hard-boiled eggs, powdered; 2 boiled potatoes, mashed; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 2 teaspoons mustard; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ½ cup olive oil; ¼ cup 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

In a bowl, combine the powdered eggs and mashed potatoes for smoothness.
Add the chopped onion and mix well.
Stir in the mustard and salt, adjusting to taste.
Pour in the olive oil and vinegar, mixing until combined.
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: Provide the base body and a creamy, crumbly texture once powdered.
Boiled potatoes: Add bulk and a soft, smooth texture that holds the mixture together.
Olive oil: Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and giving a smooth, emulsified texture.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
Mustard: Adds sharp flavour and helps emulsify the oil and vinegar.
Anchovy sauce: Adds savoury depth and a salty, umami note.

The step that matters

Adding the oil and vinegar. Pouring the oil and vinegar in while mixing helps them emulsify into the mashed base; dumping them in at once can leave the salad greasy and uneven.

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