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 ↓
French Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Mix salt, pepper, and cayenne in a bowl.
Add olive oil and mix well.
Gradually add vinegar or lemon juice, mixing until an emulsion forms.
Serve
Pour over vegetables and toss to coat.
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.
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Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Olive oil
- Forms the fat base of the dressing and carries flavor, giving a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
- Vinegar or lemon juice
- Adds acidity that balances the oil and brightens the flavor of the dressing.
- Salt
- Seasons the dressing and helps bring out the flavors of the other ingredients.
The step that matters
Gradually add vinegar or lemon juice, mixing until an emulsion forms.. Adding the acid slowly while mixing breaks the liquid into tiny droplets dispersed in the oil. Adding it all at once can keep the oil and acid separated, so the dressing looks split and tastes greasy.
“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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