Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the vinegar with sugar, salt, mustard, and cayenne.
Beat the butter until creamy, then mix in the flour.
Stir the butter mixture into the boiling vinegar and cook for 5 minutes.
Pour the hot mixture over the well-beaten egg.
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.
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.
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter and flour 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
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity and the tangy base of the dressing.
- Egg
- Thickens the dressing as it cooks and adds richness and body.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the dressing a smooth, creamy texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter mixture so the dressing becomes smooth and stable.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
The step that matters
Pour the hot mixture over the well-beaten egg. Egg proteins set with heat, so pouring hot liquid into beaten egg while whisking gently tempers it. Pouring too fast or without stirring can scramble the egg and leave lumps instead of a smooth dressing.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, butter, flour, egg):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Chivefits about as well
- Cucumberfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, butter, flour, 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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