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Potato Mayonnaise Dressing

A creamy dressing made from mashed potato, egg yolk, oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mash the potato very smooth and let it cool.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolk and mix until light.

Make the dressing

  1. Stir in the mustard, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce until well combined.

  2. Gradually add the oil a few drops at a time, leaving 1 tablespoon aside.

  3. Finally, mix in the vinegar and the remaining oil.

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.

  1. Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potato
Thickens the dressing and gives it body in place of some of the oil.
Egg yolk
Emulsifies the oil and water so the dressing stays smooth and thick.
Oil
Forms the fatty body of the dressing, richness and smooth texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
Made mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds sharp flavour.

The step that matters

Gradually add the oil a few drops at a time. Adding oil too fast overwhelms the egg yolk and potato, so the emulsion breaks and the dressing turns thin and greasy. Slow addition lets tiny oil droplets be fully dispersed and held in suspension.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, mustard, pepper, sauce. 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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