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Mayonnaise Dressing

A dressing made from egg yolks, mustard, salt, sugar, butter, vinegar, and buttermilk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 base

  1. Mix egg yolks, mustard, salt, sugar, butter, and vinegar in a bowl.

  2. Heat the mixture over medium heat until it begins to boil.

Thicken

  1. Add 1 more cup of buttermilk mixed with 3 tablespoons of flour.

  2. Cook until thick, stirring constantly.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Their proteins set as they heat, giving the dressing body and richness.
Buttermilk
Provides the liquid that thickens into a creamy, pourable base.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness and sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that rounds out the sharpness of the vinegar.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth texture and a rich mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Egg yolk proteins can curdle or scramble if the mixture overheats. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly, prevents scorching on the bottom, and keeps the thickening smooth and lump-free.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Cucumberfits about as well
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, vinegar, buttermilk. 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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