Name: Canned Salmon Dressing
Ingredients: 3 eggs, beaten; 2 tablespoons melted butter; 1-2 teaspoons dry mustard; 1/2 cup vinegar; a little salt; a little cayenne pepper; a little milk

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Canned Salmon Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the beaten eggs in a pot until cooked.
In a bowl, mix the melted butter, dry mustard, vinegar, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Once the eggs are cold, chop them and add to the mixture.
Thin the dressing with a little milk 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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Cooked and chopped eggs add body and richness to the dressing.
Melted butter: Adds fat and smoothness, giving the dressing a rich mouthfeel.
Dry mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and cuts the richness.

Swap the mustard

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

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Asparagusfits about as well
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, vinegar, pepper, milk. 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.