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Mayonnaise Dressing

A cold dressing made from egg yolks, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,297 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chill all ingredients thoroughly.

  2. Place the egg yolks in an ice-cold bowl and beat well.

  3. Add a little salt and pepper.

Make the dressing

  1. Slowly add ½ cup of olive oil drop by drop while stirring constantly until thick.

  2. Gradually add the vinegar, continuing to stir.

  3. Finally, add the remaining ½ cup of olive oil drop by drop while stirring.

  4. Mix in a cold place for best results.

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

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

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

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Egg + olivetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,340 recipes

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

  5. Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Act as the emulsifier, holding the oil and vinegar together as a thick, stable sauce.
Olive oil
Supplies the fat that gives the dressing its body, richness and smooth texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity and sharpness that balances the richness of the oil and yolks.

The step that matters

Adding the oil drop by drop. Oil must be added slowly while stirring so the yolk can break it into tiny droplets. Adding it too fast overwhelms the yolk, and the emulsion splits and stays runny instead of thickening.

“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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