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Salad

Made Mustard Dressing

A condiment made with English mustard, salt, salad oil, sugar, pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Made Mustard Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine mustard, salt, salad oil, sugar, and pepper.

  2. Gradually add vinegar while mixing until a smooth paste forms.

  3. Beat vigorously at the end to achieve the proper consistency.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  5. Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

English mustard
Adds sharp flavor and helps oil and vinegar stay blended as an emulsifier.
Salad oil
Provides fat that gives the dressing a smooth, rich body.
White sugar
Sweetness that balances the sharpness of the mustard and vinegar.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and thins the mixture.

The step that matters

Beat vigorously at the end. Oil and vinegar separate unless beaten into tiny droplets. Vigorous mixing disperses the oil so mustard can hold it in suspension, giving a smooth, stable consistency instead of a greasy, split dressing.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Cabbagefits less well
  4. Cucumberfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, 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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