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Salad

French Dressing

A simple salad dressing made with olive oil, vinegar, pepper, salt, and onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the olive oil with the pepper and salt.

  2. Pour this mixture over the salad and toss to combine.

  3. Add the vinegar and mix again until well combined.

  4. Mix the pepper and salt. Add the oil and onion.

  5. Add the vinegar and mix thoroughly.

  6. Pour the mixture over the salad or place the salad over it.

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. Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Olive oil
Provides fat that carries flavour and coats the salad leaves.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.
Onion
Adds a sharp, pungent aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Mix thoroughly. Oil and vinegar do not mix on their own and separate quickly. Vigorous, thorough mixing breaks the oil into tiny droplets suspended in the vinegar, so the dressing stays combined and coats the salad evenly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, olive, 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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