Why it works: Mustard and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub a dish with a raw onion.
Make the dressing
In a bowl, mix vinegar, salad oil, coralline pepper, salt, and mustard together gradually.
Serve
Serve the dressing in the prepared dish.
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 + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salad oil
- Forms the fat base that carries the dressing's flavour and gives it body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the oil.
- Fresh french mustard
- Acts as an emulsifier that helps the oil and vinegar stay combined.
The step that matters
Mixing the dressing gradually. Adding the oil and other liquids slowly while mixing lets droplets of oil disperse finely in the vinegar. Mustard helps hold this emulsion together, so the dressing stays smooth rather than separating.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, mustard):
- Horseradishfits better
- Radishfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, mustard. 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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