Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the emulsion
Combine the egg yolks, mustard, salt, cayenne pepper, and white pepper in a deep soup plate.
Stir continuously in one direction with a large fork or spoon.
Slowly pour in the olive oil while stirring until it begins to bind and become stringy.
Quickly add lemon juice or vinegar and keep stirring until all the oil, lemon juice, and vinegar are incorporated.
Chill and fix
Place the dressing on ice immediately.
If the dressing breaks, add another egg yolk.
Stir, holding back the oil for a minute.
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.
-
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Their lecithin helps hold the oil and water together, giving the dressing a thick, stable body.
- Mustard
- Its natural emulsifiers help the oil stay suspended, and it adds a sharp flavor.
- Olive oil
- Provides the fat that gives the dressing its richness and smooth texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the oil.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Slowly pour in the olive oil while stirring. Egg yolk can only bind so much oil at once. Adding oil too fast overwhelms the yolk, so the emulsion breaks and the dressing separates.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mustard, pepper, olive, lemon, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Dillfits better
- Capersfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mustard, pepper, olive, lemon, vinegar. 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.
More salad dressing recipes
You might also like
Chicken Salad623 recipes
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipes
French Dressing58 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.