Name: Salad Dressing, Without Oil
Ingredients: 1 cup good cream; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 2 tablespoons vinegar; ½ cup butter; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 4 tablespoons boiling water

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Salad Dressing, Without Oil

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the butter, egg, and seasoning as in the previous recipe.
Gradually stir in 1 cup of good cream instead of oil.
Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
For thick melted butter, cream ½ cup of butter until light and fluffy.
Stir in ½ teaspoon of coarse sea salt.
Slowly add 4 tablespoons of boiling water to the butter while stirring continuously.
Heat gently over the fire until just warm enough to serve.

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Lemon + vinegartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,334 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Cream + vinegartop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,064 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).