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Salad

French Dressing

A vinaigrette made with olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, optional paprika or cayenne, and optional tarragon vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix salt and pepper with olive oil.

  2. Slowly add vinegar while beating continuously with a fork until thickened and creamy.

  3. Add a dash of paprika or cayenne if desired.

  4. For improved flavor, add a few drops of tarragon vinegar when using on lettuce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Olive + tarragontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,323 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Olive oil
Forms the bulk of the dressing and carries its richness and mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the oil and brightens the flavor.

The step that matters

Slowly add vinegar while beating. Adding vinegar gradually while beating breaks it into small droplets spread through the oil, so the mixture thickens and stays creamy instead of separating into layers.

Swap the tarragon

The recipe marks tarragon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Tarragonthe original
  3. Basilfits about as well
  4. Rosemaryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar, pepper. 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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