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Salad

Salad Dressing

A vinaigrette-style dressing made with vinegar, butter, eggs, sugar, milk, mustard, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Salad Dressing

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 ↓

Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Scald the vinegar and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Beat the eggs or yolks with sugar, milk or cream, mustard, salt, and pepper in a bowl.

  3. Add the egg mixture to the vinegar and butter.

  4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  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. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Egg proteins set as the mixture heats, thickening the dressing into a creamy texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the dressing a smoother mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that defines the dressing's tang.
Sugar
Balances the acidity with sweetness.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the dressing's sharpness.

The step that matters

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Egg proteins begin to set around 160°F and can scramble if the mixture gets too hot or is left unstirred. Gentle, constant stirring keeps the eggs evenly thickened and smooth.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

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