Name: Our Favorite Dressing
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 cup vinegar; 1 teaspoon celery seed; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 teaspoon made mustard; 1 teaspoon salt; one pint whipped cream; 14 eggs

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Our Favorite Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Yolks of 14 eggs. 1 teaspoon black pepper.
1 cup vinegar. Dash cayenne.
% cup butter. 1 teaspoon celery seed.
1 teaspoon salt. %,nd a little onion juicjB
if liked. Put vinegar and butter in double boiler. Beat yolks very, very lightly. Add other things to yolks. When vine- gar is hot, add eggs and cook until thick. When cold, add one pint whipped cream. Half of recipe makes enough for small family. This will keep for a week in refrigerator. Add whipped cream when ready to serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

196Calories

7 gProtein

11 gFat

17 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery Seed	1 stalk (40g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 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 Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). 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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

Swap the celery

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

Tarragonfits better
Nutmegfits about as well
Capersfits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, sugar, mustard, cream, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.