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
Stir sugar and mustard with a little water in a small bowl to form a paste.
In a double boiler, combine the paste with vinegar, egg yolks, sour cream, melted butter, and baking soda.
Cook over simmering water, stirring until thickened, but do not overcook.
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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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
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify the fats and thicken the dressing as they cook gently.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the richness and sweetness of the dressing.
- Sour cream
- Adds creaminess and moisture to the dressing.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and smooth texture.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps stabilise the emulsion.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to offset the acidity of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Cook gently over simmering water. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat, but if they get too hot they scramble and curdle. Stir constantly and stop as soon as the dressing thickens, since it continues to set as it cools.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, egg, cream, butter):
- Mustardthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Cucumberfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, egg, 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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