Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
In a double boiler, heat the sweet milk until hot.
Add the melted butter and slightly beaten eggs, stirring briskly.
Once it begins to thicken, add the vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, and mustard.
Whip thoroughly and remove from heat.
Store
Store in a glass container in a cool place.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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
- Eggs
- Thicken the dressing into a creamy emulsion as they cook gently in the hot milk.
- Butter
- Adds richness and smooth body to the dressing.
- Sweet milk
- Provides the base liquid that heats and thickens with the eggs.
- Red vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness of the butter and eggs.
- Dry mustard
- Adds pungent flavor that complements the acidity of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Add the eggs and butter slowly while stirring briskly. Eggs can scramble if they meet hot liquid too quickly. Constant stirring and gentle heat in a double boiler let the egg proteins thicken the mixture smoothly instead of curdling it.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, pepper, milk, butter, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, pepper, milk, butter, egg. 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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