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Orange Salad

A citrus salad with oranges, sugar, vinegar, cayenne, egg yolks, egg whites, and sour cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Orange Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oranges

  1. Cut up the oranges, removing seeds and white fiber.

  2. Mix the oranges with 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Make the dressing

  1. For the dressing, mix together ½ cup vinegar, ¼ teaspoon salt, a dash of cayenne, and ¾ cup sugar.

  2. Add the yolks of 3 eggs to the mixture and place it in a double boiler.

  3. Stir constantly until creamy.

  4. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth and fold them into the hot creamy mixture.

  5. Remove from heat and cool.

  6. Once cooled, add 2 cups of sour cream and mix well.

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

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

  2. Orange + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

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

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Orange + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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 cook and add richness to the custard-like base.
Egg whites
Whipped to a stiff froth, they add lightness and airy body to the dressing.
Sour cream
Adds creaminess and a tangy richness that balances the sweet and sharp flavors.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that brightens the sweetness and cuts through the richness.

The step that matters

Stir constantly while cooking the yolks. Egg yolks set into a smooth custard when heated gently, but they can scramble if they overheat or sit still. A double boiler and constant stirring keep the heat even so the dressing stays creamy.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Orangethe original

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