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Salad

French Dressing

A simple vinaigrette made with garlic, sea salt, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, oil, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,368 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Crush the garlic in a bowl.

  2. Add coarse sea salt, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce.

  3. Whisk in the oil and vinegar until well combined.

  4. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

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. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Clove + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Garlic + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,007 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + vinegartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,844 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Garlic
Adds pungent aroma and sharp savory flavour.
Oil
Provides fat and body, carrying flavour and giving the dressing a smooth mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Worcestershire sauce
Adds savory, fermented depth and umami to the dressing.
Paprika
Contributes mild sweetness, a reddish colour and gentle aroma.

The step that matters

Whisking in the oil and vinegar. Oil and vinegar do not mix on their own. Whisking vigorously breaks the oil into tiny droplets suspended in the vinegar, creating a temporary emulsion. Insufficient whisking lets the oil separate quickly, leaving a greasy, uneven dressing.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, sauce, vinegar):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, sauce, vinegar. 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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