Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Cream Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the flour and stir until smooth.
Pour in the milk and stir until it begins to boil.
Place the saucepan in a larger pot filled with water and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent lumps.
Make the dressing
In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly and mix in the salt, pepper, sugar, and mustard.
Add the vinegar and mix thoroughly.
Combine the egg mixture with the boiling mixture and stir until thickened like custard.
Finish and serve
Strain the mixture and let it cool before bottling.
When ready to use, thin with whipped 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.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Eggs
- Thicken the dressing as they set into a custard-like texture when heated.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk mixture so the dressing becomes smooth and body-rich.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a fat base that carries the flour and milk together.
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines a tangy salad dressing.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a creamy sauce.
The step that matters
Combining the eggs with the hot mixture. Adding hot liquid to beaten eggs too quickly or without stirring can scramble them into lumps. Stirring steadily while combining gently warms the eggs so they thicken smoothly into a custard.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, milk, vinegar, egg, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, milk, vinegar, egg, pepper. 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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