Name: German Cheese Dressing
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons soft American cheese; 6 tablespoons thick sour cream; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 1 teaspoon onion juice; ¼ teaspoon salt; a dust of pepper; 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Why it works: Cream and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

German Cheese Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

Rub the cheese with the sour cream until smooth.
Add vinegar, onion juice, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce; mix well.

Serve

Soak the sauerkraut in cold water for several hours before using.
Serve on cold sauerkraut or finely shaved cabbage.

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.

Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cheese + vinegartop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

American cheese: Melts smoothly into the sour cream, giving the dressing a creamy, body-rich texture.
Sour cream: Forms the creamy base of the dressing and adds tang and moisture.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the rich cheese and sour cream.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, cream, vinegar, pepper, sauce):

Mustardfits better
Capsicumfits better
Horseradishfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, cream, vinegar, pepper, sauce. 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.