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Potato Salad

A salad of boiled potatoes, smoked ham, onion, and a vinaigrette of oil, vinegar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Boil the potatoes until tender, then peel and slice them thinly.

  2. Fry the diced smoked ham until browned.

Dress and serve

  1. In a pan, combine the salad oil, vinegar, and water, and heat together.

  2. In a bowl, mix the sliced potatoes, chopped onion, and salt.

  3. Pour the heated mixture over the potato mixture and toss gently.

  4. Prepare the salad at least 30 minutes before serving.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Ham + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,159 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Potato + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Ham + vinegartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

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 absorb the dressing's flavour and moisture.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the fat and brightens the flavour.
Salad oil
Carries fat-soluble flavour and gives the dressing a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
Smoked ham
Browning adds savoury, smoky flavour that carries through the salad.

The step that matters

Toss the hot dressing into the potatoes. Potatoes absorb warm liquid best while still hot, so pouring the heated dressing over them and tossing gently lets them soak up the vinegar and oil evenly. Rough handling can break the slices apart.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, vinegar, onion):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Cucumberfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, vinegar, onion. 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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