Why it works: Vinegar and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,297 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
French Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Combine salt, paprika, vinegar, and olive oil in a covered container.
Shake until the mixture is foamy.
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.
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Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that balances the richness of the oil.
- Olive oil
- Supplies fat and body, giving the dressing a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Shake until foamy. Shaking breaks the oil into tiny droplets suspended in the vinegar. Without enough shaking, the oil and vinegar separate quickly and the dressing tastes uneven.
“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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