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Mayonnaise Dressing

A creamy dressing made with mustard, salt, cayenne, eggs, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon 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 ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Combine one teaspoonful of mustard, one teaspoonful of powdered sugar, one-half teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of cayenne pepper, yolks of two raw eggs, one pint of olive oil, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice; mix the first.

  2. In a small bowl, add the eggs and stir well.

  3. Add the oil a few drops at a time, stirring constantly with a fork until it thickens.

  4. Do not try to stir it all in at once, but very gradually.

  5. When the dressing becomes thick, thin it with a little lemon; then add more oil and lemon alternately, and lastly add the vinegar.

  6. If the egg does not thicken quickly, add one-half teaspoonful of the unbeaten white of an egg or a few drops of vinegar to help it thicken and keep it smooth.

Finish and serve

  1. Just before using it, add one-half cupful of whipped cream.

  2. Never mix the mayonnaise dressing with the meat or fish until ready to serve, and then leave half of it to pour over the top.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

286Calories
8 gProtein
25 gFat
9 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)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 Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid 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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 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

Eggs
Egg yolks emulsify with the oil to form the thick dressing structure.
Olive oil
Forms the bulk of the emulsion, giving the dressing its richness and body.
Mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion so the oil and egg stay combined.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
Whipped cream
Adds lightness and softness to the finished dressing just before serving.

The step that matters

Adding the oil. Oil must be added very slowly while stirring constantly, because the egg yolk can only hold tiny droplets at first. Adding too much oil at once breaks the emulsion, leaving the dressing thin and separated.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Avocadofits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Limefits about as well
  4. Cherryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, olive, cream, pepper, egg, vinegar. 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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