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
Make the dressing
Beat the eggs until light.
In a saucepan, combine the eggs, sweet cream or milk, vinegar, mustard, Cayenne pepper, and salt.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened like custard.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Serve
Pour the dressing over your cabbage.
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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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
- Eggs
- Thicken the dressing as they cook, giving it a custard-like body.
- Sweet cream or milk
- Adds richness and softens the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Vinegar
- Provides the sour, acidic bite that balances the richness.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavor and helps emulsify the dressing.
The step that matters
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Egg proteins set gently as the mixture warms. Too much heat or too little stirring can scramble the eggs into lumps instead of a smooth, thickened custard.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, vinegar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Horseradishfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, vinegar, pepper. 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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