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 ↓
Cream Dressing for Salads
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream base
Heat the cream almost to boiling.
Stir in the flour, previously wet with cold milk, and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the sugar and remove from heat.
Finish and serve
When the mixture is half cold, beat in the whipped egg whites.
Set aside to cool completely.
Once cool, whip in the oil, pepper, mustard, and salt.
If the salad is ready, add the vinegar and pour the dressing over it immediately.
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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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh sweet cream
- Provides the rich, fatty body that makes the dressing creamy and smooth.
- Corn starch or very fine flour
- Thickens the cream as it boils, giving the dressing body and a smooth texture.
- Egg whites
- Beaten stiff and folded in, they add lightness and airy texture to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds the sharp acidity that balances the richness of the cream and eggs.
- Salad oil or melted butter
- Adds fat for smoothness and mouthfeel in the finished dressing.
The step that matters
Cool the base before adding the egg whites. If the cooked mixture is still hot, the beaten egg whites will deflate and lose their airiness. Cooling it until half cold lets the whites stay light and keeps the dressing smooth.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, corn, egg, vinegar, butter, sugar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, corn, egg, vinegar, butter, sugar, pepper. 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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