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Apple Salad

A salad of sliced apples and celery dressed with a sweet and tangy vinaigrette.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓

Apple Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Combine vinegar, butter, and sugar in a saucepan.

  2. Bring to a boil.

  3. Stir in the beaten egg and cook until thickened.

  4. Let cool.

  5. Once cool, add thick sweet cream, mustard, and cayenne pepper.

Assemble the salad

  1. Slice apples thinly.

  2. Layer celery, apples, and dressing in a serving dish without stirring.

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 + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Thickens the dressing as it cooks and sets it into a smooth, creamy base.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth texture to the cooked dressing.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Thick sweet cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the dressing once cooled.
Apples
Provide crisp texture and fresh, fruity flavor to the salad.

The step that matters

Stir in the beaten egg and cook until thickened. Egg proteins set as they heat, thickening the dressing. If the heat is too high or the mixture is not stirred, the egg can scramble into lumps, so keep the heat moderate and stir constantly.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter, sugar, egg, cream, mustard, pepper. 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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