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Salad

French Salad Dressing

A vinaigrette made with white pepper, salt, olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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French Salad Dressing

Why it works: Olive and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,922 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

French Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix the salt, white pepper, and olive oil together.

  2. Once the salt is dissolved, add the vinegar and lemon juice while stirring vigorously.

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.

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.

  1. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. White pepper + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,658 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. White pepper + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Olive oil
Provides the fat that makes up most of the dressing and carries its flavor.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the rich oil.
Lemon juice
Adds bright acidity and a fresh citrus aroma.

The step that matters

Adding the vinegar and lemon juice while stirring vigorously. Oil and vinegar do not mix on their own. Vigorous stirring breaks the acid into small droplets spread through the oil, so the dressing looks blended. It separates again if left to stand.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, vinegar, lemon):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar, lemon. 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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