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Sweet-sour Dressing for Lettuce

A sweet‑sour dressing made with sugar, eggs, vinegar, water, butter, and salt, boiled and cooled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Sweet-sour Dressing for Lettuce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine sugar, eggs, vinegar, water, butter, and salt.

  2. Boil the mixture for 3 minutes, stirring carefully.

  3. Allow to cool, and if the dressing is too thick, thin it with sweet or sour cream.

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.

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. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  5. Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set and thicken the dressing as their proteins cook.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides the sour note and acidity that defines the dressing.
Butter
Adds richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Boiling the mixture. Eggs thicken as their proteins set, but if the mixture overheats or is not stirred, the eggs can scramble and form lumps. Stirring carefully keeps the heat even so the dressing becomes smooth and thick.

“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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