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Mayonnaise Dressing

A creamy dressing made with lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, sugar, olive oil, egg yolk, salt, pepper, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine one teacup olive oil (best), one tablespoon lemon juice, one tablespoon vinegar, one-half teaspoon dry mustard, one teaspoon pulverized sugar, one-fourth teaspoon salt, pinch of red pepper, and beaten yolk of one egg, then mix well.

  2. Add two or three teaspoonfuls of the olive oil, beating constantly and hard.

  3. Hereafter add alternately one teaspoon each of lemon juice, olive oil, and vinegar until all have been used.

Chill and serve

  1. Keep on ice.

  2. Before serving, add one-half cup of whipped cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

321Calories
8 gProtein
25 gFat
19 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Olive oil
Forms the body of the emulsion, giving the dressing its richness and smooth texture.
Egg
Its yolk acts as an emulsifier, holding the oil and acidic liquids together as a smooth dressing.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the oil.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the oil.
Whipped cream
Adds lightness and a softer, creamier texture to the finished dressing.

The step that matters

Adding the oil while beating. Oil must be added slowly and while beating constantly so it disperses into tiny droplets held by the egg yolk. Adding it too fast can break the emulsion, leaving the dressing oily and separated.

Swap the lemon

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

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

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