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Dessert

Corn Starch Dressing

A dressing made with corn starch, oil, eggs, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, cayenne, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Corn Starch Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Separate yolks of two eggs and set aside.

  2. Measure 1/2 cup of vinegar.

Make the base

  1. Mix corn starch and vinegar thoroughly.

  2. Add 1 cup boiling water and cook over boiling water until very thick and smooth.

  3. Add yolks when ready to take from the fire.

Finish

  1. When cold, add one pint of oil and the juice of two lemons, salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

221Calories
7 gProtein
19 gFat
7 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
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 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.

  1. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

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

Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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

Corn starch (in the method)
Thickens the dressing as it cooks with the boiling water and vinegar.
Egg yolks
Add richness and body, and help the dressing hold together as it cools.
Oil
Adds richness, smoothness and body to the cooled dressing.
Lemon juice
Adds bright acidity that balances the richness of the oil and yolks.
Vinegar (in the method)
Adds sharp acidity and mixes with the starch before cooking.

The step that matters

Add the yolks off the heat. Egg yolk proteins set at moderate heat and can scramble if added to a boiling mixture. Taking the pan off the fire first lets the yolks blend smoothly and enrich the thick base without curdling.

“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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