Name: Lettuce Dressing
Ingredients: 2 hard boiled egg yolks; 2 tablespoons sweet cream; 1 teaspoon pepper; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon mustard; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; vinegar to taste

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 ↓

Lettuce Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, rub together the egg yolks, sweet cream, pepper, sugar, mustard, and coarse sea salt.
Let the mixture stand for five minutes.
Add vinegar to taste and pour over cold lettuce.

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.

Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Hard boiled egg yolks: Form a rich, creamy base that thickens and emulsifies the dressing.
Sweet cream: Adds moisture and richness, giving the dressing a smooth, pourable texture.
Mustard: Helps emulsify the dressing and adds a sharp, tangy flavour.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances its richness.

Swap the mustard

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

Capsicumfits about as well
Mustardthe original
Horseradishfits about as well
Spinachfits less well

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