Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Potato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the potatoes in their skins.
Peel and slice the potatoes while hot.
Cut the bacon into small dice.
Fry the bacon until nicely browned.
Drain the bacon well from fat.
Assemble and serve
Combine the bacon, sliced potatoes, and onion in a bowl.
Season with salt and pepper.
Stir in the mayonnaise and vinegar.
Mix carefully to avoid breaking the potatoes.
Serve in a salad bowl, garnished with parsley.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 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 hold their shape when sliced while hot.
- Bacon
- Adds savoury, browned flavour and fat that carries flavour through the salad.
- Mayonnaise
- Adds creamy fat and moisture that binds the salad together.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich bacon and mayonnaise.
- Onion
- Adds sharp, aromatic bite in small amounts.
The step that matters
Mix carefully to avoid breaking the potatoes.. Cooked potato slices are fragile and break apart under vigorous stirring, leaving a mushy salad. Gentle folding keeps the slices intact while the mayonnaise and vinegar coat them evenly.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, parsley, sauce, vinegar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, parsley, sauce, vinegar, pepper. 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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