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Basic French Dressing

A vinaigrette dressing made with oil, vinegar, water, sugar, mustard, MSG, pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, and grated onion.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Basic French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix oil, vinegar and water, then beat until mixed.

  2. Add sugar, mustard, MSG, pepper, salt, Worcestershire and paprika and beat until mixed.

  3. Add onion and beat well.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

258Calories
2 gProtein
14 gFat
26 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

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.

  1. Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

What each ingredient does

Oil
Forms the body of the dressing and carries the flavours.
Wine vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, bright taste.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the vinegar and salt.
Dry mustard
Adds pungent flavour and helps emulsify the oil and vinegar.
Grated onion
Adds aroma and savoury depth to the dressing.

The step that matters

Beat the oil, vinegar and water together first. Oil and water-based liquids separate on their own. Beating them thoroughly at the start breaks the oil into tiny droplets, so the dressing looks blended and stays more uniform before the other ingredients go in.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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