Why it works: Milk and butter 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
In a bowl, mix salt, sugar, and flour.
Beat the egg yolks thoroughly and add to the mixture.
Stir in the sweet milk and cook in a double boiler until thick.
Add butter and thin with vinegar to achieve desired consistency.
For vegetable salad, add pepper and mustard to taste.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the dressing and add richness as they set during cooking.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture so the dressing becomes smooth and body-rich.
- Sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base that thickens into a creamy dressing.
- Butter
- Adds fat for smoothness and a rich mouthfeel.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and adjusts its thickness.
The step that matters
Cook in a double boiler until thick. Gentle indirect heat lets the egg yolks and flour thicken the milk gradually. Direct high heat can curdle the eggs or scorch the milk, leaving lumps or a grainy texture.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg, milk, butter, vinegar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg, milk, butter, vinegar, pepper. 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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