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Salad

French Salad Dressing

A creamy salad dressing made with eggs, mustard, pepper, salt, vinegar, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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French Salad Dressing

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 ↓

French Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl.

  2. Add black pepper, mustard, salt, and vinegar; mix until smooth.

  3. Cook the mixture over low heat until it thickens.

Finish and serve

  1. When ready to serve, fold in the whipped cream.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Eggs
Egg proteins set as they heat, thickening the dressing into a body.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the flavor and balances richness.
Mustard
Its natural emulsifiers help keep the dressing smooth and stable, and add sharp flavor.
Whipped cream
Adds fat and trapped air, making the dressing lighter and creamier.

The step that matters

Cooking over low heat until it thickens. Egg proteins set gently as they heat and thicken the mixture. If the heat is too high or the mixture is left unstirred, the eggs can scramble into curds. Low heat and steady stirring keep the dressing smooth.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, vinegar, cream):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Horseradishfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, 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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