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Salad

Sandwich Dressing

A dressing made with egg yolks, corn starch, mustard, sugar, butter, red pepper, vinegar, and cream, used for ham.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar 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 ↓

Sandwich Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.

  2. Add corn starch, mustard, sugar, butter, and red pepper, then mix well.

  3. Gradually add vinegar.

  4. Bring to a boil.

  5. Allow to cool.

  6. Stir in cream.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 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. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing as they set with heat and add richness.
Corn starch
Thickens the liquid into a smooth, spreadable dressing when heated.
Mustard
Adds sharp flavour that balances the sweetness and richness.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the vinegar with sweetness.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Cream
Adds moisture and softens the texture of the dressing.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil. Egg yolks and corn starch need to reach a boil to thicken properly. Heating too gently leaves the dressing thin, while overheating can scramble the yolks and make it lumpy.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

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