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Mayonnaise Dressing

A creamy dressing made from mustard, salt, cayenne, egg yolk, olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice, and optional sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

Make the base

  1. Take one even teaspoonful of mixed mustard, one teaspoonful of salt, and a pinch of cayenne.

  2. Add the yolk of one egg. Stir together.

Emulsify the oil

  1. Add very gradually a teaspoonful of best olive oil, stirring steadily one way.

  2. Continue adding oil until a thick paste forms, a smooth yellow ball.

  3. If the egg breaks and the mixture becomes thin after adding oil, add another yolk to restore it.

Finish and thin

  1. When ready, thin with vinegar or lemon juice and add a little sweet cream to reach a very thick cream consistency.

  2. Alternately add oil, vinegar, and lemon juice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

102Calories
7 gProtein
6 gFat
6 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 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 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. See the original page.

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. Tea + lemontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together610 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Mustard + teatop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together67 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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

Egg yolk
Its lecithin emulsifies the oil into the mixture, holding it together as a thick sauce.
Olive oil (in the method)
Forms the bulk of the sauce, providing richness and a thick, smooth body.
Mixed mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds sharpness to the sauce.
Vinegar
Thins the sauce and adds acidity that brightens its flavour.
Lemon juice
Thins the sauce and adds acidity that brightens its flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the oil gradually while stirring steadily in one direction. Oil must be dispersed into tiny droplets around the egg yolk's emulsifier. Adding it too fast or stirring unevenly lets the droplets merge, so the egg breaks and the mixture thins instead of thickening.

Swap the mustard

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tea, egg, vinegar, lemon. 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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