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Salad

Prepared Mustard

A condiment made from mustard, sugar, salt, water, oil, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Prepared Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine mustard, sugar, and salt.

  2. Pour in enough boiling water to wet the mixture.

  3. Once cool, stir in salad oil and vinegar until the desired consistency is reached.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Mustard
Provides the sharp, pungent flavor that defines the sauce.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the mustard with mild sweetness.
Salad oil
Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a smoother mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity and is used to thin the sauce to the desired consistency.

The step that matters

Adding boiling water to the mustard. Mustard's pungency develops when its enzymes meet water, and hot water releases the heat quickly. Letting the mixture cool before adding oil and vinegar helps keep the emulsion stable and the flavor balanced.

“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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