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
Make the base
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.
Add salt, mustard, sugar, and butter to the egg yolks.
Cook and finish
Bring the vinegar to a boil, then slowly add it to the mixture while stirring constantly.
Cook the mixture until it thickens.
Once cooled, stir in the 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.
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.
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Mustard + vinegartop 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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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
- Thicken as they heat and bind the dressing into a smooth, creamy texture.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness of the yolks and butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
- Cream
- Adds richness and softens the dressing's sharpness after it has cooled.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps hold the egg and fat mixture together.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to offset the acidity of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Adding the hot vinegar. Pour the boiling vinegar in slowly while stirring constantly. Egg yolk proteins thicken with gentle heat, but a sudden rush of heat can scramble them into lumps instead of a smooth, thickened dressing.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, vinegar, cream):
- Mustardthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Cucumberfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, vinegar, 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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