Slaw or Salad Dressing

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 + celerytop 2% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together4,169 recipes

   Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together41,516 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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

Thicken the dressing as they set during cooking, giving it body.

Flour

Stabilises the mixture and helps thicken it so it does not turn watery.

Sugar

Adds sweetness to balance the sharpness of the vinegar.

Vinegar

Adds acidity that gives the dressing its tangy flavour.

Cream or milk

Adds richness and moisture, softening the dressing's sharpness.

The step that matters

Swap the celery

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

1. Capersfits better
2. Tarragonfits better
3. Nutmegfits better
4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, flour, sugar, egg, vinegar, cream, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.