Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
French Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Mix the salt and pepper with the oil.
Slowly add the vinegar while stirring well.
Ensure the dressing has a grayish, slightly thickened emulsion.
Serve
Serve this dressing on all green salads.
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.
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that sharpens the dressing's flavor and balances the richness of the oil.
- Oil
- Forms the fat base that carries flavor and, emulsified with vinegar, gives the dressing its body.
The step that matters
Adding the vinegar slowly while stirring. Oil and vinegar do not mix on their own. Adding the vinegar slowly while stirring breaks it into tiny droplets that stay suspended, forming an emulsion. Pouring it in all at once lets the two separate quickly.
“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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