Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 with skins on until tender.
Let the potatoes cool, then cut them into small pieces.
Chop the onion and parsley finely.
Mix
In a bowl, mix the potatoes, onion, parsley, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper together.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 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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Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,649 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Potato + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,458 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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 cut into pieces.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat and a smooth, rich mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Weak vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the fat.
- White onion
- Adds sharp, pungent flavour that mellows as the salad sits.
The step that matters
Cut the potatoes after they have cooled. Warm potatoes are fragile and crumble easily when cut. Once cooled, their starch firms up, so they hold clean pieces. Dressing warm potatoes also lets them absorb the vinegar and oil more evenly.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, olive, pepper, parsley, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Carrotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, olive, pepper, parsley, vinegar. 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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