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 vegetables
Cut the potatoes into small pieces.
If using, finely chop the fresh onion or cucumber.
Mix the chopped onion or cucumber with the potatoes.
Make the dressing
In a saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, eggs, dry mustard, pepper, and salt.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.
If the dressing is too thick, add a little cream after it cools.
Assemble and rest
Pour the dressing over the potatoes.
Let the salad sit for 1-2 hours before serving.
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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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,340 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 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 and absorb the dressing's flavour.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
- Sugar
- Balances the vinegar's sharpness with sweetness.
- Eggs
- Thicken the dressing as they cook and give it a creamy body.
- Dry mustard
- Adds a sharp, aromatic bite to the dressing.
The step that matters
Cook the dressing until thickened. Eggs set when heated, so the dressing must be stirred constantly over medium heat. Overheating or leaving it unstirred can curdle the eggs into lumps, and a thin or lumpy dressing will not coat the potatoes evenly.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, vinegar, sugar, egg, mustard, pepper, cream):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, vinegar, sugar, egg, mustard, pepper, cream. 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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