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Mayonnaise Dressing

A creamy dressing made from eggs, sugar, mustard, vinegar, water, cornstarch, butter, salt, pepper, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the eggs well in a bowl.

  2. Add sugar, mustard, vinegar, water, and cornstarch; mix thoroughly.

  3. Cook the mixture in a steamer, stirring until thickened.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, salt, and pepper.

Store and serve

  1. Store in a cool place until ready to use.

  2. When ready to serve, thin with cream as desired.

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. 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. 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

Eggs
Thicken and emulsify the dressing as they set during gentle cooking.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid into a smooth, stable body as it heats.
Vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the sweetness and richness of the dressing.
Butter
Adds richness and a smoother mouthfeel when stirred in off the heat.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the vinegar with a mild sweetness.

The step that matters

Cook in a steamer while stirring until thickened. Eggs begin to set around moderate heat and can curdle if overheated or left unstirred. Gentle, constant stirring keeps the mixture smooth while the cornstarch thickens it.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatofits about as well

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