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
Make the salad
Layer the sliced potatoes and onions in a salad dish, sprinkling salt and pepper over each layer.
Fry the fat from the salt pork and add the vinegar.
Pour the hot mixture over the layered salad.
Garnish and cool
Garnish with small squares of tender boiled beet.
Cover the dish tightly and let it cool.
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.
-
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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 warm vinegar dressing as they sit.
- Onion
- Adds sharp, aromatic flavour that mellows somewhat once dressed and cooled.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that brightens the salad and balances the richness of the fat.
- Salt pork fat
- Carries flavour and richness into the dressing when fried and combined with the vinegar.
The step that matters
Pour the hot mixture over the layered salad. The dressing must be hot so the warm potatoes and onions soak up the vinegar and fat evenly. Pouring it cool would leave the dressing sitting on top rather than being absorbed into the layers.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, vinegar, pork):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Tomatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, vinegar, pork. 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.
More potato salad recipes
You might also like
Chicken Salad623 recipes
Salad Dressing491 recipes
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.