Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, mix mustard, salt, sugar, and egg yolks until smooth.
Add milk and vinegar, then mix well.
In a double boiler, heat the mixture until it thickens like cream, but do not let it curdle.
Remove from heat and fold in the beaten egg whites while hot.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 as they set with gentle heat and add richness.
- Egg whites
- Add lightness and airy body when folded in while hot.
- Milk
- Dilutes the mixture and keeps the dressing creamy and smooth.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the dressing its tangy flavor.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavor and helps emulsify the mixture.
The step that matters
Heat gently in the double boiler without curdling. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set, but if the heat is too high they scramble and curdle. Gentle, indirect heat in a double boiler lets the mixture thicken smoothly like cream.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, milk, vinegar, butter):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, milk, vinegar, butter. 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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