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Dessert

Fruit Salad Dressing

A sweet and tangy dressing made with sugar, vinegar, water, cornstarch, eggs, butter, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fruit Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Combine one-half cup sugar and one cup vinegar; if strong, weaken with one-fourth cup water and let come to a boil.

  2. In a smooth bowl, combine the beaten yolks of four eggs with one tablespoon cornstarch, one-half teaspoon salt, and one-half teaspoon white pepper.

  3. Pour the boiling vinegar very slowly over this mixture.

  4. Return to a double boiler and boil until thick, stirring all the time.

  5. Take from the fire, add butter the size of an egg, and beat well into the mixture.

Serve

  1. When you wish to use, dilute with cream to proper consistency.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

591Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
110 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
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.

By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. White pepper + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Vinegar and egg 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the dressing as they set with heat, giving it body and richness.
Cornstarch
Starch swells when heated with liquid, thickening the dressing so it holds together.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the sharp acidity of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Pour the boiling vinegar very slowly over the egg mixture. Adding hot liquid too quickly can scramble the egg yolks into lumps. Pouring slowly while stirring warms the yolks gradually so the dressing stays smooth.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

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