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Dessert

Mayonnaise Dressing

A creamy dressing made with mustard, salt, powdered sugar, cayenne, egg yolks, vinegar, lemon juice, and olive oil.

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 ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the mustard, salt, powdered sugar, and cayenne.

  2. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

  3. Alternately add the vinegar and lemon juice while stirring.

  4. Gradually add the olive oil while beating constantly until well combined.

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. Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,816 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Their lecithin emulsifies the oil and acid into a stable, thick sauce.
Olive oil
Forms the bulk of the sauce, providing richness and body as it is emulsified.
Mustard
Its compounds help stabilise the emulsion and add sharpness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the richness of the oil and yolks.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and brightness that balances the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Gradually add the olive oil while beating constantly. Oil must be added slowly so tiny droplets are dispersed and coated by the egg yolk lecithin. Adding it too fast can overwhelm the yolks, so the emulsion breaks and the sauce separates or stays runny.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Avocadofits about as well
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Figfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, sugar, egg, vinegar, olive. 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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