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French Dressing

A mayonnaise-based dressing made with oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, sugar, cayenne, lemon juice, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Clarke, Mary Lamson. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 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 ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat three tablespoonfuls oil, one-fourth teaspoonful salt, one tablespoonful vinegar, and one-half saltspoonful pepper together with a fork, then add vinegar slowly, beating well. Use at once, as the jelly soon separates.

  2. Put into a cold bowl the yolks of three eggs and beat with a Dover beater until very light and thick.

  3. Add one level teaspoonful mustard, one level teaspoonful salt, one saltspoonful sugar, one-half saltspoonful cayenne, and a few drops of oil.

  4. Continue beating until too thick to turn the beater easily.

Finish the dressing

  1. Add lemon juice to thin it, alternately with more oil, until two tablespoonfuls have been used; after that add vinegar to the same amount.

  2. It will take about one pint of oil to make this amount stiff enough to hold its shape when dropped from a spoon.

  3. At the last whip four tablespoonfuls of cream thick and stiff and beat into the sauce.

  4. If the sauce is to be kept any length of time do not add the cream until just before using, or omit cream entirely, using just enough oil to make it of the right consistency.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

327Calories
8 gProtein
25 gFat
20 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
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 Clarke, Mary Lamson. [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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  5. Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,816 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks emulsify the oil and vinegar, giving the dressing its thick body.
Oil
Forms the bulk of the emulsion, supplying richness and smooth texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the richness of the oil and yolks.
Mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp, savoury bite.
Cream
Whipped in at the end to lighten the texture and add softness.

The step that matters

Adding the oil and lemon juice slowly. Oil must be added gradually to the beaten yolks so droplets disperse and the emulsion forms. Adding it too fast breaks the emulsion, leaving a thin, separated sauce.

“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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