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Mayonnaise Dressing

A thickened dressing made with mustard, salt, flour, sugar, eggs, vinegar, water, pepper, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the mustard, coarse sea salt, flour, sugar, and pepper.

  2. Add the beaten eggs and then the vinegar, mixing well.

  3. Place the mixture over steam from a kettle and stir continuously until thickened.

  4. Thin the dressing with cream to your desired consistency.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg proteins coagulate when heated, thickening the dressing as it sets over steam.
Flour
Starch thickens the mixture as it heats, giving the dressing body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the vinegar.
Mustard
Adds sharp flavor and helps the dressing stay balanced and smooth.

The step that matters

Stirring over steam until thickened. Egg proteins can scramble if the mixture gets too hot or is not stirred constantly. Gentle, continuous stirring over steam heats it evenly so the flour and eggs thicken it smoothly.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Horseradishfits about as well
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, vinegar, pepper, cream. 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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