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Dessert

Cream Salad Dressing

A creamy salad dressing made with eggs, corn starch, mustard, sugar, salt, vinegar, cream, olive oil, lemon, and onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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 ↓

Cream Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Separate the yolks of four eggs.

  2. Combine yolks with two tablespoons corn starch, one-half teaspoon mustard, one teaspoon sugar, one teaspoon table salt, dash of cayenne pepper, and juice of one lemon.

  3. Cut one onion in half and scrape the juice.

  4. Add one-fourth cup of vinegar.

  5. Mix the dry ingredients with the eggs and vinegar.

  6. Add one quart of cream, sweet or sour, cooking until thickened.

  7. Add two tablespoons of olive oil.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

820Calories
22 gProtein
26 gFat
124 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)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.

By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). 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. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Corn + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,502 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing and add richness as they cook.
Corn starch
Thickens the cream mixture as it cooks.
Cream
Provides the body and richness of the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor of the dressing.
Olive oil
Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture.

The step that matters

Cooking until thickened. Egg yolks and starch thicken as they heat, but overheating can curdle the eggs and make the dressing grainy. Heat gently and stir constantly.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

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