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Salad

Cold Slaw Dressing

A cold dressing made from eggs, water, vinegar, butter, salt, sugar, and pepper for slaw.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cold Slaw Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl that fits over a tea kettle.

  2. Add the water and vinegar mixture, butter, salt, and sugar.

  3. Place the bowl over boiling water and stir until thicker than boiled custard.

  4. Strain the mixture and let it cool completely.

Serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the cabbage when it is perfectly cold.

  2. Sprinkle a little black pepper over the top 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. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken as they cook over heat, giving the dressing its body and creamy texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the sweetness and richness.
Butter
Adds fat that smooths the dressing and gives it a rich mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Stir over boiling water until thicker than boiled custard. Eggs thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat. If the heat is too high or stirring stops, the eggs can scramble and turn grainy. Stirring over steady, moderate heat keeps the dressing smooth.

“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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