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
Combine vinegar, sugar, butter, salt, and cayenne pepper in a double boiler.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Beat the egg yolks and mix in the milk and mustard.
Stir the egg mixture into the boiling vinegar mixture until it thickens to the consistency of thick cream.
Remove from heat and beat until cool.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the dressing as they cook and set into a creamy, emulsified texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity with sweetness.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softens the flavor of the custard base.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the boiling vinegar mixture. Egg yolks scramble if they get too hot too fast. Beating the yolks with milk first and adding them gradually while stirring tempers the mixture so it thickens smoothly instead of curdling.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, butter, pepper, egg, milk):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, butter, pepper, egg, 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.
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