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Mayonnaise Salad -dressing

A homemade mayonnaise-based salad dressing made with egg yolk, vinegar, oil, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Salad -dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mayonnaise

  1. In a bowl, combine the egg yolk, salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper, and 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Mix until smooth.

  2. Gradually add the salad oil, a few drops at a time, mixing until a thick paste forms.

  3. Add a little vinegar to achieve a consistency similar to rich cream.

  4. Continue alternating between adding oil and vinegar, stirring constantly, until all the oil and vinegar are incorporated.

  5. If the mayonnaise curdles, chill it for 30 minutes and then continue mixing. If it's warm, place the bowl in a pan of ice while mixing.

Store

  1. Store the finished mayonnaise in a cold place until ready to serve.

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. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  2. White pepper + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. White pepper + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + white peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Raw egg yolk
Emulsifies the oil and vinegar, holding them together as a thick, stable sauce.
Salad oil
Supplies the fat that, dispersed into droplets, gives mayonnaise its rich body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps set the emulsion.

The step that matters

Adding the oil gradually. Oil must be added a few drops at a time at first so the yolk can emulsify it into fine droplets. Adding it too fast can break the emulsion and cause curdling, which is why the record advises chilling or cooling the bowl if this happens.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, vinegar. 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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