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Salad

Salad Dressing

A sweet, thickened dressing made with sugar, butter, milk, vinegar, egg yolks, mustard, and cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Salad Dressing

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

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  2. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, red pepper, egg yolks (or whole eggs), mustard, and cornstarch.

Cook the dressing

  1. Scald the vinegar and pour it over the mixture.

  2. Place the mixture on the back of the stove and let it simmer without boiling.

  3. Stir constantly until the dressing thickens.

  4. Remove from heat and add a little whipped cream just before serving.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

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

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 set with gentle heat, giving it body and richness.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel to the dressing.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid as it heats, helping the dressing set smoothly.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that defines the dressing's tang.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs and cornstarch thicken.

The step that matters

Simmer without boiling while stirring constantly. Egg proteins set gently at simmering temperature, but boiling can curdle the eggs and leave the dressing grainy. Constant stirring spreads heat evenly so the cornstarch and eggs thicken smoothly.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, pepper, egg, vinegar, 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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