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Salad

Boiled Salad Dressing

A thickened milk-based dressing made with mustard, salt, sugar, vinegar, cayenne, flour, eggs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mackay, L. Gertrude. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Boiled Salad Dressing

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 ↓

Boiled Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Scald one cup of milk in a double boiler.

  2. Blend three tablespoons of flour, one teaspoon of mustard, two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of sugar, and a dash of cayenne.

  3. Add the blended mixture to the slightly beaten yolks of two eggs.

  4. Pour the hot milk slowly over the egg mixture, stirring constantly.

  5. Return the mixture to the double boiler and cook until it thickens.

  6. Add one-half cup of vinegar and one tablespoon of butter slowly.

  7. Whip in a little at a time the well beaten whites of the eggs.

Strain and store

  1. Strain the dressing into glasses or glass jars.

  2. Store the dressing in a cool place; it will keep for several weeks.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

845Calories
28 gProtein
26 gFat
122 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 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 Mackay, L. Gertrude. [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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the dressing as they cook, and whites are whipped in to lighten its texture.
Flour
Starch thickens the milk and egg mixture as it cooks, giving the dressing body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, tangy flavor.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the flour and egg mixture thickens into a creamy dressing.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the dressing richer and smoother on the palate.

The step that matters

Adding the hot milk to the eggs. Pouring hot milk in too quickly, or without constant stirring, can scramble the egg yolks. Slow pouring and steady stirring temper the eggs so the dressing thickens smoothly.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Shallotfits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

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