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Salad

White Salad Dressing

A creamy dressing made with sweet cream, corn starch, vinegar, salad oil, sugar, salt, mustard, pepper, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Towanda, Pa. Christ church. Young ladies society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

White Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Heat cream almost to boiling, stir in corn starch (previously wet with cold milk), boil two minutes while stirring constantly, then add sugar.

  2. When nearly cold, beat in the stiff egg whites.

Finish and serve

  1. When quite cold, add the oil, pepper, mustard and salt.

  2. When salad is ready, add vinegar and pour over at once.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

764Calories
20 gProtein
26 gFat
110 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 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
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saladnot 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 Towanda, Pa. Christ church. Young ladies 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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

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

  5. Corn + mustardtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together463 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet cream
Provides richness and body, forming the creamy base of the dressing.
Corn starch
Thickens the cream when boiled, giving the dressing its body.
Eggs
Stiff whites add lightness and airy texture to the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, tangy flavor.
Salad oil
Adds fat for smoothness and a rounder mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the acidity of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Boil the cream and corn starch while stirring constantly. Corn starch thickens only when heated to a boil, and it can scorch or form lumps if left unstirred. Starch pre-wet with cold milk disperses evenly before heating, so the base sets smooth rather than gluey.

Swap the mustard

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

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

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