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American Salad

A salad of boiled potatoes, apples, celery, and onion, dressed with a mixture of egg yolks, salt, sugar, mustard, cayenne, cream, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Margaret · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

American Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the bowl and salad

  1. Rub salad bowl with Spanish onion.

  2. Slice the potatoes, apples, and celery, occasionally drawing knife through onion to impart flavor.

  3. Arrange the sliced ingredients neatly in the bowl; add tomatoes if desired for color.

Make the dressing

  1. Whisk together 3 yolks, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon mustard, a little cayenne, cream, and 2 tablespoons vinegar to make the dressing.

  2. Rub the dressing smooth, then pour in double cream until the desired consistency is reached.

  3. Add vinegar drop by drop to adjust acidity.

  4. Garnish the salad as desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

130Calories
6 gProtein
5 gFat
13 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
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 Hamilton, Margaret. 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. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Vinegar and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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

Egg yolks
Emulsify with cream and vinegar to give the dressing a rich, thick body.
Potatoes (in the method)
Form the bulk of the salad and hold their shape once sliced and arranged.
Double cream (in the method)
Adds fat and richness and loosens the dressing to the desired consistency.
Vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the yolks and cream.
Sugar
Softens the sharpness of the vinegar for a balanced flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the cream to the dressing. Egg yolks thicken and emulsify with fat when whisked smooth. Adding cream too quickly or unevenly can split the dressing, so pour it in gradually until the desired consistency is reached.

“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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