Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
In a saucepan, heat the butter until hot.
Add flour and stir until smooth, being careful not to brown.
Pour in the milk and bring to a boil.
Thicken the custard
Place the saucepan in another pot filled with hot water.
In a bowl, beat the eggs, salt, pepper, sugar, and mustard together, then add the vinegar.
Stir this mixture into the boiling mixture and cook until it reaches the consistency of soft custard.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Their proteins set when heated, thickening the mixture into a soft custard.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and moisture that the thickened custard is built on.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, tangy bite.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
- Mustard
- Adds pungent, sharp flavour that stands out against the richness of the custard.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the boiling base. Egg proteins set quickly when they get hot. Adding the egg mixture too fast or letting the base boil hard can scramble the eggs into lumps instead of a smooth, thickened custard. Stir steadily and cook gently until it reaches a soft custard consistency.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, pepper, milk, vinegar, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, pepper, milk, vinegar, egg. 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.
More salad dressing recipes
You might also like
Chicken Salad623 recipes
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipes
French Dressing58 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.