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Mayonnaise Dressing

A homemade mayonnaise dressing made with oil, vinegar, eggs, mustard, salt, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Friday club, Yarmouth, Mass. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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

Prepare

  1. Separate the yolks of two eggs.

  2. Mix the yolks with mustard, salt, and sugar.

Make the mayonnaise

  1. Add oil, then vinegar until used up.

  2. Beat constantly with an egg beater.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

203Calories
6 gProtein
19 gFat
1 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
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.

By Friday club, Yarmouth, Mass. [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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,210 recipes

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

  3. 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
Egg yolks hold the oil and vinegar together as a stable emulsion, giving body and a creamy texture.
Oil
Makes up the bulk of the sauce and gives it its rich, smooth body and fat content.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps keep the emulsion stable.
Mustard
Contains natural emulsifiers that help the oil and yolk mix and stay combined.

The step that matters

Adding the oil while beating constantly. Oil must be broken into very fine droplets and dispersed through the yolk. Adding it too fast or stopping the beating lets the droplets merge, so the emulsion breaks and the sauce turns oily and runny.

Swap the mustard

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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