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Salad

Orange Salad

A citrus salad with a creamy dressing made from egg yolks, sugar, butter, vinegar, mustard, cayenne pepper, and thick cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓

Orange Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Cream together the egg yolks, sugar, butter, vinegar, mustard, and cayenne pepper.

  2. Add hot vinegar to the mixture.

  3. Once cold, thin the dressing with ⅓ cup of thick cream.

Assemble and serve

  1. Cut the oranges into small pieces.

  2. Drizzle a spoonful of the dressing over the orange pieces.

  3. Serve cold.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Pepper + orangetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing and give it a rich, smooth body as they set gently with heat.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky texture to the dressing.
Sugar
Sweetens the dressing and balances the sharp vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that cuts through the richness of the yolks and cream.
Thick cream
Thins the dressing and adds moisture and a soft, creamy mouthfeel.
Oranges
Supply the fresh, juicy sweetness and bright flavour the dressing coats.

The step that matters

Add hot vinegar to the mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently. Adding hot liquid too quickly can scramble them, leaving the dressing grainy rather than smooth, so pour it in slowly while mixing.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

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