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 olive oil.
Add the salt, cayenne pepper, sugar, and mustard, mixing well.
Finish and serve
Incorporate the grated cheese into the mixture.
Finally, stir in the onion vinegar.
Serve in a crab shell or on a plate with biscuits and butter.
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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Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 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, rich flavour and bulk of the salad.
- Hard-boiled egg yolk
- Mashed with oil to form a smooth, creamy base that binds the mixture.
- Olive salad oil
- Adds fat and moisture, helping the egg yolk form a smooth paste.
- Onion vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich cheese and egg flavours.
- Cayenne pepper
- Adds heat that sharpens the flavour of the cheese.
The step that matters
Rub the yolk to a smooth paste with the oil. If the yolk is not fully broken down and blended with the oil, lumps will remain and the dressing will not coat the cheese evenly. Working the yolk thoroughly first gives a smooth, emulsified base before the cheese is added.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, egg, pepper, sugar, mustard, vinegar, olive):
- Capsicumfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, egg, pepper, sugar, mustard, vinegar, olive. 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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