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
Make the dressing base
In a double boiler, mix mustard, flour, beaten egg, sweet milk, and salt.
Cook until thick, stirring frequently.
Finish and serve
While hot, add butter and oil to taste.
Thin the mixture with vinegar and strain.
Add a little cayenne.
Just before mixing the salad, fold in the whipped sweet 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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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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg
- Sets and thickens the dressing as it cooks, giving it body.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture so it holds together rather than running thin.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps emulsify the dressing.
- Sweet cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture when folded in whipped.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances its richness.
The step that matters
Cook until thick, stirring frequently. The beaten egg can curdle or scramble if it overheats or sits still, so gentle, constant stirring in a double boiler keeps the custard-like base smooth while it thickens.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, milk, butter, vinegar, cream):
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits better
- Shallotfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, milk, 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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