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Salad

French Dressing

A simple vinaigrette dressing made with salt, mustard, olive oil, and lemon or lime juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,922 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine salt and mustard.

  2. Gradually add olive oil while rubbing constantly.

  3. Slowly stir in lemon or lime juice.

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. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,816 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

Mustard
Acts as an emulsifier, helping the oil and juice stay blended instead of separating.
Olive oil
Forms the body of the dressing and carries its flavor.
Lemon or lime juice
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Gradually add olive oil while rubbing constantly. Adding the oil slowly while working it continuously lets it disperse into tiny droplets held by the mustard. Adding it too fast can make the dressing separate.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, lemon):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Kalefits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, lemon. 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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