Name: Basic Buttermilk Salad Dressing
Ingredients: 1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk; 1 tbsp white wine vinegar; 1/2 tsp sugar; 2 tsp dijon mustard; salt and pepper to taste; (about ¼ t each); 3 green onions, thinly sliced; 1 garlic clove, minced

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Basic Buttermilk Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Combine all the ingredients.
Chill in the refrigerator.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

265Calories

10 gProtein

9 gFat

39 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 9 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Buttermilk: Provides tangy acidity and a creamy body that thins the dressing into a pourable consistency.
White wine vinegar: Adds sharp acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the buttermilk.
Dijon mustard: Adds sharpness and helps emulsify the dressing so it stays smooth.
Sugar: Adds a little sweetness to balance the acidity of the vinegar and buttermilk.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (buttermilk, white wine, vinegar, sugar, mustard, pepper, garlic):

Horseradishfits better
Broccolifits better
Chivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against buttermilk, white wine, vinegar, sugar, mustard, pepper, garlic. 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.