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 ↓
Cheese Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Rub the yolk of the hard-boiled egg to a paste with the salad oil.
Add the salt, cayenne pepper, sugar, and mustard in order.
Combine and serve
Mix in the grated cheese thoroughly.
Finally, stir in the onion vinegar.
Serve in a crab shell.
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.
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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Mustard + vinegartop 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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Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Old cheese
- Provides the main body, savoury flavour and rich texture of the salad.
- Hard-boiled egg yolk
- Mashed with the oil to form a smooth, emulsified base that binds the salad.
- Salad oil
- Adds fat and moisture, carrying flavour and smoothing the paste.
- Made mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness of the cheese and egg.
- Onion vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and cuts the richness of the cheese.
The step that matters
Rub the yolk to a smooth paste with the oil. Working the yolk with the oil first emulsifies the fat into a smooth base; if the yolk is added in lumps or the oil is poured in too fast, the dressing stays grainy and the cheese will not blend evenly.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, egg, pepper, sugar, mustard, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, egg, pepper, sugar, mustard, 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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