Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, combine egg yolks, vinegar, water, mustard, salt, white pepper, and flour.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.
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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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,154 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + white peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,312 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Emulsify and thicken the dressing as they set with gentle heat.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the dressing its tangy flavour.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the liquid so the dressing coats leaves rather than running off.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps stabilise the emulsion.
The step that matters
Cook over medium heat while stirring constantly. Egg yolks can scramble if the mixture gets too hot or sits still. Constant stirring spreads heat evenly, letting the flour starch and yolk proteins thicken smoothly instead of curdling.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, mustard, flour):
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Turmericfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, mustard, flour. 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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