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 ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Chop the hard boiled egg finely.
In a bowl, mix the chopped egg, mustard, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Add the raw egg yolk and beat until smooth.
Gradually pour in oil while mixing until the dressing is thick and creamy.
Add vinegar to taste.
If too much oil is added, use a small lump of ice to adjust the consistency.
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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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,210 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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
- Raw egg yolk
- Emulsifies the oil and vinegar, binding them into a thick, creamy dressing.
- Hard boiled egg
- Adds body and a rich texture as it is finely chopped into the base.
- Oil
- Provides fat that, emulsified with the yolk, gives the dressing its thick, creamy body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
- Ground mustard
- Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp, pungent flavour.
The step that matters
Gradually pour in oil while mixing. Adding oil too fast overwhelms the yolk's ability to hold droplets suspended, so the emulsion breaks and the dressing becomes thin and oily. Pouring slowly while beating lets the yolk coat each droplet and keeps the dressing thick and creamy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Cabbagefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, vinegar. 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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