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 ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, combine salt, flour, pepper, butter, sugar, and vinegar.
Stir to form a paste and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg yolk.
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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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Starch thickens the mixture into a paste as it heats.
- Butter
- Fat adds richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Egg yolk
- Proteins and fats in the yolk thicken and enrich the dressing as it sets.
- Vinegar
- Acidity gives the dressing its sharp, tangy flavour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the acidity of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Remove from heat before stirring in the egg yolk. Egg yolk sets at moderate heat, so adding it to a boiling mixture can scramble it into lumps. Off the heat, the residual warmth thickens it gently and smoothly.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, pepper, butter, sugar, egg, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, pepper, butter, sugar, egg, vinegar. 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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