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Mayonnaise Dressing

A cold egg yolk mayonnaise made with mustard, sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, vinegar, and olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Combine one-half teaspoonful of mustard, one-half teaspoonful of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

  2. Add two raw egg yolks and beat well.

  3. Stir in one teaspoonful of strong vinegar.

  4. Add very carefully, drop by drop, a scant three-quarters of a cup of best olive oil, and as it thickens add half a teaspoonful of vinegar.

Keep it cold

  1. Keep the eggs and oil refrigerated and ice cold.

  2. Optionally use lemon juice instead of vinegar if preferred.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

272Calories
7 gProtein
20 gFat
17 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
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 Henrietta Latham Dwight. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  4. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify the oil into the vinegar, giving the dressing its thick, creamy body.
Olive oil
Provides the fat that forms the body and rich texture of the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the richness of the oil and egg yolks.
Mustard
Helps stabilize the emulsion so the oil stays suspended in the dressing.

The step that matters

Adding the oil. Oil must be added very slowly, drop by drop at first, so the egg yolk can disperse it into tiny droplets. Adding it too fast breaks the emulsion, and the dressing separates into a greasy, runny mixture. Cold eggs and oil also help the emulsion hold.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Cucumberfits about as well
  4. Tomatofits less well

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