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Dressing for Sandwiches

A butter-based dressing with mustard, oil, pepper, salt, and egg yolk, spread on bread with chopped ham.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Dressing for Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Rub the butter into a cream.

  2. Add the mustard, salad oil, pepper, salt, and egg yolk.

  3. Mix thoroughly and set aside to cool.

Assemble the sandwich

  1. Spread the mixture on bread and add finely chopped ham.

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. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. White pepper + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  3. Butter + mustardtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,003 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Mustard + white peppertop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together618 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + white peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Provides richness and a creamy base that carries the other flavours.
Egg yolk
Acts as an emulsifier, helping the butter and oil blend into a smooth mixture.
Mixed mustard
Adds sharpness and savoury flavour that cuts through the richness of the butter.
Salad oil
Adds fat and moisture, keeping the dressing soft and smooth.

The step that matters

Mix thoroughly and set aside to cool. Thorough mixing blends the butter, oil and yolk into one smooth emulsion instead of separate layers. Cooling lets the butter firm slightly so the dressing holds its shape when spread on bread.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, white 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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