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 Dressings
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg yolks until very light.
Heat the butter, vinegar, sugar, salt, black pepper, and red pepper in a saucepan.
Once warm, add the egg yolks, stirring constantly until it boils and thickens into a smooth custard.
Let it cool, then stir in the mustard and cream.
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.
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the dressing into a custard as they set with heat.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the dressing's flavor.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity with a touch of sweetness.
- Cream
- Adds richness and softens the dressing's texture after cooling.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolks to the warm mixture. Egg yolks scramble if they get too hot too fast. Stirring constantly while adding them lets the proteins thicken the custard evenly into a smooth texture rather than curdled lumps.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, vinegar, sugar, pepper, cream):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, vinegar, sugar, pepper, cream. 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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