Why it works: Vinegar and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,297 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing base
In a bowl, combine salt and pepper.
Mix with a little vinegar to form a paste.
Add more vinegar to make a brimming spoonful.
Dress the salad
Toss the salad lightly with this mixture for 1-2 minutes.
Add olive oil and toss again.
Garnish according to the type of salad.
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 + olivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that brightens the dressing and helps dissolve the salt into a paste.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat and richness, and coats the leaves to carry flavour across the salad.
- Black pepper
- Adds a sharp, aromatic bite that seasons the dressing.
The step that matters
Add olive oil and toss again.. Oil and vinegar do not mix on their own, so the oil must be added after the salt has dissolved into the vinegar paste. Tossing then spreads the oil in fine droplets that coat the leaves evenly instead of pooling.
“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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