Name: Cream Dressing No. 3
Ingredients: 1 hard-boiled egg yolk; ⅔ teaspoon sugar; ⅓ teaspoon salt; ⅓ teaspoon mustard; ⅙ teaspoon pepper; 2 teaspoons vinegar; ¼ cup white sauce or ⅔ cup whipped cream; egg whites (optional)

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 ↓

Cream Dressing No. 3

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

In a bowl, rub the hard-boiled egg yolk with sugar, salt, mustard, and pepper.
Add vinegar and white sauce or whipped cream, mixing well.

Serve

If desired, cut the egg whites into cubes and dress them with the mixture.
Serve as a salad dressing.

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.

Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,120 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,147 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pepper + vinegartop 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

Hard-boiled egg yolk: Its fat and emulsifying proteins help bind the dressing into a smooth, thick mixture.
White sauce or whipped cream: Adds body and a creamy, moist texture to the dressing.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that gives the dressing a sharp, bright flavor.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with sweetness.

Swap the mustard

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

Capsicumfits about as well
Mustardthe original
Horseradishfits less well
Cucumberfits less well

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