Name: Sandwich Dressing
Ingredients: 2 hard boiled egg yolks; 1 teaspoon made mustard; ½ teaspoon pepper; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 1 tablespoon olive oil; meat (chopped fine)

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 ↓

Sandwich Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Chop the yolks of 2 hard boiled eggs finely.
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with 1 teaspoon of mustard, ½ teaspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Chop the meat finely and mix it with the dressing.

Serve

Spread the mixture between slices of bread.

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.

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.

Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,950 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Pepper + olivetop 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

Hard boiled egg yolks: Provide richness and body, thickening the dressing into a spreadable paste.
Made mustard: Adds sharp flavour and emulsifying help that keeps the oil and vinegar blended.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and cuts the richness of the yolks.
Olive oil: Adds fat and smoothness, giving the dressing a silkier mouthfeel.
Meat: Supplies the main filling, with its texture carried through the chopped mixture.