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
Beat the egg yolks (or whole egg) well.
Add to boiling vinegar in a pan.
Add butter and cook in a pan of boiling water.
Once cool, season with salt, pepper, and mustard.
Thin the mixture with sweet cream to your desired consistency.
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.
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify and thicken the dressing as they cook, giving it body.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness of the eggs and butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat and smoothness, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Sweet cream
- Thins the cooked mixture to a pourable consistency.
The step that matters
Add the beaten eggs to the boiling vinegar. Eggs thicken when heated but scramble if they get too hot too fast. Adding them gradually to the hot liquid and stirring constantly keeps the dressing smooth rather than lumpy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, butter, pepper, cream):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Spinachfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, butter, 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.
More salad dressing recipes
You might also like
Chicken Salad623 recipes
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipes
French Dressing58 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.