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Mayonnaise Dressing

A cold egg yolk-based dressing thickened with oil, seasoned with salt, mustard, cayenne, pepper, lemon juice or vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson." · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon 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 base

  1. Place the uncooked yolks of two eggs into a cold soup dish.

  2. Beat the yolks well with a silver or wooden fork for one minute.

  3. Add half a teaspoon of salt, a dash of cayenne pepper, and, if desired, half a teaspoon of mustard.

  4. Whisk the mixture well.

Add the oil

  1. Slowly drizzle in half a pint or more of olive oil, drop by drop.

  2. Stir rapidly and steadily while adding the oil, avoiding reverse motion to prevent curdling.

  3. After adding one gill of oil, alternate occasionally with a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar until a proper consistency is reached.

  4. Add more or less oil as needed to achieve the desired quantity of dressing.

  5. (Optional) If using a quart bottle of oil, stir it into the yolks after adding the first gill of oil, alternating with a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar.

  6. Finish by adding more oil as directed.

Rescue and store

  1. If the dressing curdles, start over with the yolks of two eggs in another plate.

  2. Stir the yolks well, then gradually add the curdled mayonnaise, stirring continuously.

  3. In warm weather, place the dressing vessel on a piece of ice or in a pan of cold water to keep the oil and eggs very cold.

  4. Keep the dressing covered and stored in the ice for up to a week.

  5. Optionally, use tarragon vinegar instead of regular vinegar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

227Calories
7 gProtein
20 gFat
7 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Soupnot 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 Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsifier that binds the oil and lemon juice or vinegar into a stable, thick dressing.
Oil
Forms the body and rich texture of the dressing as it is slowly emulsified into the yolks.
Lemon juice or vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens flavor and helps the emulsion reach a proper consistency.
Mustard
Helps stabilize the emulsion and adds a sharp, savory flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the oil slowly while stirring steadily. Oil must be dispersed in tiny droplets so the yolk lecithin can coat them. Adding it too fast or stirring backward can break the emulsion, causing the dressing to curdle.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

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