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Boiled Dressing III

A boiled dressing made with mustard, sugar, butter, salt, thyme, egg yolks, vinegar, cayenne pepper, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 ↓

Boiled Dressing III

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dissolve 1 teaspoon dry mustard in 1 tablespoon boiling water.

  2. Beat the egg yolks.

Make the dressing

  1. Add 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 saltspoon salt, 1 tablespoon thyme, and beat thoroughly.

  2. Heat 2 cups vinegar, then add it to the mixture and cook all together in a double boiler until thick.

Serve

  1. Add whipped cream to taste when used.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

247Calories
7 gProtein
17 gFat
16 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
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
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 Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary 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. Mustard + vinegartop 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. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the dressing as they cook and give it a smooth, rich body.
Butter
Melted butter adds richness and a smooth, mellow texture to the dressing.
Vinegar
Vinegar provides the sharp acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Sugar
Sugar adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Dry mustard
Dry mustard adds a sharp, pungent flavour that complements the eggs and vinegar.

The step that matters

Cooking the dressing in the double boiler until thick. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat, but if they get too hot they can curdle or scramble. Cooking over simmering water and stirring steadily keeps the mixture smooth while it thickens.

Swap the mustard

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

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

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