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Mayonnaise Dressing

A creamy dressing made from egg yolks, vinegar, sugar, mustard, butter, salt, water, and corn starch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a granite iron vessel, combine water and vinegar and bring to a boil.

  2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar, mustard, butter, and salt until creamy.

Cook and store

  1. Rapidly stir the creamy mixture into the boiling vinegar to prevent burning.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a self-sealed can and store in a cool place.

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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + corntop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together463 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Cider + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,414 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Butter + corntop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken and emulsify the dressing, giving it a creamy, smooth body.
Cider vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness.
White sugar
Adds sweetness that rounds out the vinegar's sharpness.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel.
Corn starch
Thickens the liquid so the dressing becomes body-rich and stable.
Pure mustard
Adds sharp flavor and helps hold the emulsion together.

The step that matters

Rapidly stir the creamy mixture into the boiling vinegar. Egg yolks can scramble and turn lumpy when they meet hot liquid. Stirring quickly spreads the heat evenly and disperses the yolks, so the mixture thickens smoothly instead of curdling.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cider, vinegar, sugar, butter, corn):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Cucumberfits about as well
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cider, vinegar, sugar, butter, corn. 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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