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Salad

Salad Dressing

A vinaigrette made with egg yolk, olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar, and egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Salad Dressing

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 ↓

Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the yolk of one fresh egg with two tablespoons of olive oil very slowly.

  2. Add one and a half teaspoons of mustard, three teaspoons of salt, and a little pepper.

  3. Finally, stir in two teaspoons of vinegar.

  4. Beat the white of the egg to a stiff froth and gently fold it into the mixture.

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.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolk
Emulsifies the olive oil so it stays suspended in the dressing instead of separating.
Olive oil
Provides fat and a smooth, rich body to the dressing.
Mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp, pungent flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
Egg white
Beaten to a stiff froth, it lightens the dressing and adds airy volume when folded in.

The step that matters

Adding the oil to the yolk very slowly. Oil must be dispersed into the yolk one drop at a time so the egg lecithin can surround the droplets. Adding it too fast causes the emulsion to break and the dressing to separate.

Swap the mustard

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, olive, pepper, vinegar. 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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