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Salad

French Dressing

A vinaigrette made with vinegar, olive oil, salt, onion pulp, and paprika.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a pint-sized jar.

  2. Seal the jar with two rubber bands and a cap.

  3. Shake until thoroughly mixed.

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. Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Supplies the sharp acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Olive oil
Provides fat and body, carrying flavor and forming a temporary emulsion with the vinegar.
Fresh onion pulp
Adds sharp aromatic flavor to the dressing.

The step that matters

Shake until thoroughly mixed. Oil and vinegar do not mix on their own. Vigorous shaking breaks the oil into tiny droplets that stay suspended briefly, giving an even dressing. It separates again if left standing.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, olive):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, olive. 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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