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 ↓
Cream Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, rub together the egg yolks, mustard, salt, sugar, melted butter, vinegar, and pepper until smooth.
Gradually add the sweet cream and beat thoroughly with an egg beater.
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.
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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 + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Emulsify and thicken the dressing, giving it a smooth, rich body.
- Sweet cream
- Adds moisture and richness, creating a creamy, pourable texture.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and smoothness in the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness.
- Made mustard
- Adds sharp flavor and helps bind the emulsion.
The step that matters
Gradually add the sweet cream. Adding cream slowly while beating lets the yolk and fat mixture emulsify evenly. Dumping it in at once can cause the dressing to separate or stay thin and grainy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, vinegar, pepper, cream):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, vinegar, pepper, 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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