Name: Autumn Potato Salad Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds small, waxy potatoes, well scrubbed and halved or quartered; 1/2 pound baby carrots, well scrubbed and halved or quartered; 1/2 pound parsnips, well scrubbed, and halved; 6 medium shallots, peeled; 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil; 2 big pinches of sea salt; 2 bunches of scallions (green onions), greens topped off, and halved lengthwise; vinaigrette:; 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 1 small shallot, minced; 2 teaspoons whole grain mustard; 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt; 1/3 cup of olive oil; 1 tablespoon heavy cream or creme fraiche (optional); 2 cups cooked wild rice (opt)

Why it works: Carrot and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,097 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. 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.

Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,097 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Parsnip + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together63 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, carrot, parsnip, shallot, olive, red wine, vinegar):

Beetrootfits better
Chivefits better
Turnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, carrot, parsnip, shallot, olive, red wine, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Wild Rice	1 cup cooked (164g)	166
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parsnip	1/2 cup (78g)	55
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Autumn Potato Salad Recipe