Name: Tzatziki Potato Salad
Ingredients: 4 pounds potatoes (I like tiny Yukon golds, but you can use whatever boiling potatoes you like for salads); 1 3/4 cups Greek yogurt (I used full-fat but I think other fat levels would work); 1/4 cup sour cream; 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from half a big lemon); 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar; 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill; 1 medium garlic clove, minced; 2 teaspoons kosher salt (I use Diamond brand; use less if you use another,; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 hothouse or English cucumber (1 pound), unpeeled but quartered lengthwise, seeds removed; In a medium pot, cover your potatoes with cold water and bring them to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-high and let potatoes simmer until tender enough that they can be pierced easily with a skewer or slim knife. I find that small potatoes tend to be done in; 30 minutes from the time I put them on the stove cold, but it’s best to start checking 5 to 10 minutes sooner. Drain potatoes and let them cool completely. (This is a great step to do ahead, as it seems to take potatoes forever to cool. If you’re really in a rush, spread them on a tray and pop them

Why it works: Lemon and dill match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 976 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Lemon + dilltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together976 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Potato + dilltop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,517 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Dill + garlictop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together943 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + garlictop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,893 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, yogurt, cream, white wine, vinegar, dill, garlic):

Lemonthe original
Limefits about as well
Plumfits about as well
Avocadofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, yogurt, cream, white wine, vinegar, dill, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Salad	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Spread	not in our table	0

Tzatziki Potato Salad