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Cream Salad Dressing

A vinaigrette made with vinegar, water, butter, egg yolks, mustard, salt, cornstarch, sugar, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Cream Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. In a saucepan, combine the vinegar and water and bring to a boil.

  2. Add the butter to the boiling mixture.

  3. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the mustard, salt, cornstarch, sugar, and cayenne pepper until foamy.

Cook the dressing

  1. Pour the boiling vinegar and water mixture into the egg yolk mixture, stirring continuously.

  2. Place the bowl in a pan of hot water on the stove, beating constantly until it thickens but does not boil.

  3. Remove from heat just before boiling and transfer to a cold bowl, beating hard for a few minutes.

Cool and store

  1. Once completely cool, pour into a glass jar, seal, and refrigerate.

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.

  1. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Cider + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,414 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken and emulsify the dressing as they set with gentle heat.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel to the dressing.
Cornstarch
Thickens the mixture as it heats, giving the dressing body.
Strong cider vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that balances the richness of the yolks and butter.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to offset the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Cooking the yolk mixture. Egg yolks thicken and can scramble if overheated. Cook gently over hot water, beating constantly, and stop as soon as it thickens, before it boils, so the dressing stays smooth.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Cucumberfits less well
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, butter, sugar, pepper, egg. 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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