Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
In a bowl, combine the beaten egg, vinegar, olive oil (or butter), mustard, salt, sugar, and cream.
Beat all the ingredients together until well mixed.
Cook and cool
Heat the mixture in a saucepan until it comes to a boil and thickens to the consistency of thick cream.
Remove from heat and let it cool before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Egg
- Thickens the dressing as it cooks and gives it a creamy, emulsified body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the dressing its tangy flavour.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smoother, softer texture to the dressing.
- Mustard
- Adds sharpness and helps stabilise the emulsion of fat and liquid.
- Olive oil or butter
- Adds fat, which gives richness and a silky mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Heating until it thickens. The beaten egg must be heated gently enough to thicken without scrambling. Once it reaches a boil and thickens, the egg proteins set the dressing, so removing it from heat at the right point keeps it smooth.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, olive, sugar, cream):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Asparagusfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, olive, sugar, cream. 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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