Name: How We Cook in Tennessee
Ingredients: half cup vinegar; half cup sweet milk; one teaspoon sugar; one pint whipped cream; two teaspoonfuls of mustard; one teaspoonful of salt; one cup of sugar; one cup of vinegar; three cups of butter- milk; one tablespoonful flour; one teaspoonful sugar; half teaspoonful of salt; two teaspoonfuls of sugar; half cup of whipped cream; three teaspoons mustard; half teaspoon sugar; one tablespoon butter; one teaspoon salt; one pint good vinegar; one cup of tomatoes; three tablespoons of vinegar; one tablespoonful of sugar; one teaspoon of salt; one tablespoon of flour; half cup butter; one cup cold water; half pint blanched almonds add tablespoon melted butter; one teaspoon fine salt; a cup of sweet milk; a pinch of red pepper

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Mustard + tomatotop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,482 recipes

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

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 as they set during gentle cooking, giving it a rich, creamy body.
Vinegar: Adds the sharp acidity that balances the richness of the yolks and cream.
Whipped cream: Lightens the texture and adds smoothness and richness to the finished dressing.
Butter: Adds fat for a richer, smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture over gentle heat until it thickens. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the heat is too high the yolks can scramble and curdle, leaving the sauce grainy instead of smooth.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, milk, sugar, cream, mustard, butter, flour):

Horseradishfits better
Shallotfits better
Chivefits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, milk, sugar, cream, mustard, butter, flour. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

How We Cook in Tennessee