Why it works: Mustard and vinegar 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, sugar, mustard, vinegar, and butter.
Cook over low heat until thickened, then cool.
Once cool, fold in the whipped cream gently.
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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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + walnuttop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together849 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Walnut + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,832 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the dressing as they cook and set, giving it a rich, smooth body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the richness of the yolks and butter.
- Whipped cream
- Adds airiness and lightness when folded in gently after cooling.
- Butter
- Adds fat for smoothness and a rounded, mellow mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to offset the sharpness of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Cook over low heat until thickened. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; too much heat scrambles the proteins into curds, leaving the dressing grainy instead of smooth.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, mustard, vinegar, butter, cream):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Sesamefits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, mustard, vinegar, butter, cream. 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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