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Boiled Mayonnaise Dressing

A boiled mayonnaise dressing made with eggs, olive oil, milk, vinegar, mustard, salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Boiled Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix and sift the salt, sugar, and mustard.

  2. Stir thoroughly into the beaten eggs.

  3. Beat in the olive oil, milk, and vinegar.

  4. Add the cayenne pepper.

Cook and chill

  1. Cook in a double boiler for 30 minutes, beating frequently with an egg beater.

  2. Cool and chill before serving.

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. Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  4. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the dressing as they cook and bind the oil and liquids into an emulsion.
Olive oil
Adds richness and body, giving the dressing its smooth texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
Milk
Adds moisture and softens the dressing, mellowing its texture.
Mustard
Contributes sharp flavour and helps stabilise the emulsion.

The step that matters

Cook in a double boiler for 30 minutes, beating frequently. Gentle, indirect heat lets the eggs thicken slowly without scrambling. Frequent beating keeps the mixture smooth and evenly heated, so it sets as a uniform dressing rather than curdling on the bottom.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Cucumberfits about as well

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