Name: Russian Dressing
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons mayonnaise; 1 tablespoon chili sauce; a little chives, finely chopped; a dash of paprika; 1 teaspoon tarragon vinegar; a little mustard; a little salt; 1 chopped pimento; vinegar (to thin if necessary)

Why it works: Tarragon and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 901 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Russian Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine mayonnaise, chili sauce, chives, paprika, tarragon vinegar, mustard, salt, and chopped pimento. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
If the dressing is too thick, thin it with vinegar to your desired consistency.

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.

Tarragon + mustardtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together901 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Chive + tarragontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together589 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Chive + mustardtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together587 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,547 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mayonnaise: Provides the creamy base and most of the dressing's body and richness.
Chili sauce: Adds sweetness, tang and color that give the dressing its characteristic flavor.
Tarragon vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the rich mayonnaise.
Chopped pimento: Adds mild sweetness, color and a soft pepper flavor.

Swap the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, tarragon, vinegar, mustard):

Horseradishfits better
Shallotfits better
Lettucefits better
Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, tarragon, vinegar, mustard. 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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Russian Dressing