Skip to main content
Salad

Salad Dressing

A creamy salad dressing made with egg yolks, mustard, butter, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Salad Dressing

Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil together the cider vinegar, water, sugar, salt, mustard, and butter.

  2. Beat the egg yolks well.

  3. Dissolve the cornstarch in the rich milk.

  4. Stir the egg yolks, milk, and cornstarch together.

  5. Pour the boiling liquid over the egg mixture.

  6. Return the mixture to the saucepan.

  7. Stir until it simmers.

  8. Remove from heat.

  9. Beat until cold.

  10. Fold in the whipped cream.

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.

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.

  1. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing and add richness as they set gently with heat.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid into a smooth, stable body as it heats.
Cider vinegar
Adds the sharp acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
Whipped cream
Lightens the cooled dressing and adds a soft, airy texture.

The step that matters

Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir until it simmers. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat but can curdle or scramble if overheated. Stirring constantly and stopping at a simmer keeps the dressing smooth and properly thickened.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cider, vinegar, sugar, butter, milk, cream):

  1. Mustardthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Cucumberfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cider, vinegar, sugar, butter, milk, cream. 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.

More salad dressing recipes

Boiled 72Cream 68French 58Cooked 45Fruit 41Chicken 31 See all 528 →

You might also like

Chicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesTomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipesFrench DressingFrench Dressing58 recipes