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Mayonnaise Dressings

A simple dressing made from egg yolk, vinegar, and olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,297 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Dressings

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine the egg yolk and vinegar.

  2. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the mixture thickens and emulsifies.

  3. Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired.

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. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Olive + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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

Olive oil
Forms the bulk of the dressing and provides richness and body as it emulsifies.
Egg yolk
Its lecithin binds oil and vinegar into a stable, thick emulsion.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens flavor and helps the emulsion hold.

The step that matters

Adding the olive oil slowly. Oil added too fast cannot be absorbed by the yolk, so the emulsion breaks and the mixture stays thin and separates. Whisking steadily while adding oil in a thin stream lets the yolk coat each droplet and build a thick, stable emulsion.

“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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