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Sauce

Cream Sauce

A sauce made with malt vinegar, mustard, olive oil, sugar, salt, egg, and heavy cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Cream Sauce

Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓

Cream Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce base

  1. In a saucepan, combine malt vinegar and dry mustard; cook until thick.

  2. Stir in olive oil, sugar, and salt to taste.

Finish the sauce

  1. Beat the whole egg well and add it to the vinegar and mustard mixture; boil for a few minutes, being careful not to let it curdle.

  2. Remove from heat and fold in the stiffly beaten cream.

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.

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.

  1. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Whole egg
Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body and a smooth, rich texture.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and a light texture when whipped and folded in.
Dry mustard
Contributes sharp, pungent flavour that balances the sweetness and richness.
Malt vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps the mustard mixture thicken.
Olive oil
Adds fat for a smoother mouthfeel and a more rounded sauce.

The step that matters

Boil the egg mixture gently. Egg proteins set when heated, so if the mixture boils too hard or too long it can curdle and turn grainy. Keep it at a gentle boil and stir constantly.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (malt, vinegar, olive, sugar, egg, cream):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Cucumberfits about as well
  4. Potatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against malt, vinegar, olive, sugar, egg, 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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