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
Mix the base
Stir sugar, mustard, salt, and butter together in a bowl.
Beat in the eggs until light.
Cook and finish
Stir in the boiling vinegar.
Cook the mixture on the stove, stirring, until creamy.
Once cool, add the cream.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Thicken the dressing as they heat and help bind it into a creamy texture.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that rounds out the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the dressing's texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and smoothness.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavor and helps hold the fat and liquids together.
The step that matters
Cook the mixture on the stove, stirring, until creamy.. Egg proteins thicken as they heat, but if the mixture gets too hot or is not stirred, the eggs can scramble and turn lumpy. Constant stirring over gentle heat keeps the dressing smooth.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, vinegar, cream, butter):
- Mustardthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Cucumberfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, vinegar, cream, butter. 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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