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Potato Salad

A potato salad with eggs, celery, onion, sweet cream, vinegar, butter, mustard, sugar, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 salad base

  1. Boil the potatoes until tender.

  2. Let the potatoes cool and cut into small bits.

  3. In a bowl, combine the potatoes, celery, mashed eggs, and onion.

  4. Season the mixture with pepper, salt, and sugar to taste.

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the 5 eggs.

  2. Add the sweet cream, vinegar, butter, mustard, pepper, and sugar.

  3. Cook the sauce over low heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil.

  4. Remove the sauce from heat and let it cool.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pour the sauce over the salad mixture.

  2. Chill the salad in a cool place or on ice.

  3. Stir in the whipped cream.

  4. Serve the salad on lettuce or cabbage leaves.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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, becoming tender when boiled and holding their shape when cut.
Eggs
Mashed hard-boiled eggs add body, while beaten raw eggs thicken the cooked dressing.
Sweet cream
Enriches the cooked dressing, giving it a smooth, rich texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the richness of the cream, eggs and butter.
Whipped cream
Folded in at the end to lighten the salad and add a soft, airy texture.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the cooked dressing.

The step that matters

Cook the sauce over low heat, stirring constantly. Beaten eggs can scramble or curdle if overheated. Low heat and constant stirring let the egg proteins thicken the sauce smoothly before it reaches a boil.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, celery, egg, pepper, sugar, cream, vinegar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, celery, egg, pepper, sugar, cream, 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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