Name: Thousand Island Salad Dressing
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon tarragon vinegar; ¼ teaspoon paprika; ¼ teaspoon salt; ½ cup chili sauce; 1 cup mayonnaise; 1 teaspoon finely chopped pimentos; 1 teaspoon finely chopped green peppers

Why it works: Tarragon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Thousand Island Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise and chili sauce.
Add tarragon vinegar, paprika, salt, pimentos, and green peppers.
Mix well until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

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.

Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,399 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,547 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tarragon + saucetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together566 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vinegar + saucetop 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

Mayonnaise: Provides the creamy, fatty base that gives the dressing its body and mouthfeel.
Chili sauce: Adds sweetness, acidity and tomato flavor that define the dressing's character.
Tarragon vinegar: Adds sharp acidity and a light herbal aroma that balances the rich base.
Finely chopped pimentos: Contribute mild sweetness and a soft, colorful texture throughout the dressing.
Finely chopped green peppers: Add crisp texture and a fresh, slightly bitter vegetal note.

The step that matters

Mix well until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Mayonnaise is an emulsion, so thorough but gentle mixing spreads the acid, spices and chopped vegetables evenly without breaking the emulsion. Uneven mixing leaves pockets of sharp vinegar or bland base in the dressing.

“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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Thousand Island Salad Dressing