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
Make the paste
In a bowl, mix melted butter and flour to form a paste.
Add the paste to the hot milk and stir well.
Add the eggs and seasonings
In another bowl, beat the eggs and add salt, mustard, sugar, and cayenne.
Slowly stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk.
Finish the dressing
Finally, add the vinegar very slowly to avoid curdling.
Cook the mixture over hot water until thickened.
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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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,776 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set and thicken the dressing as they cook, giving it body.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk with the butter to form a smooth base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour in the base paste.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy liquid that the eggs and flour thicken.
- White wine vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the sharp vinegar.
The step that matters
Adding the vinegar slowly. Eggs curdle when heated too quickly or when acid hits them while very hot. Adding the vinegar slowly and stirring keeps the egg proteins smooth and the dressing creamy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, egg, flour, white wine, vinegar, sugar):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, egg, flour, white wine, vinegar, sugar. 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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