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Mayonnaise Dressing

A creamy dressing made from eggs, butter, olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, and seasonings, cooked gently and chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a small bowl, cream the mustard and cornstarch with a little water.

  2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well.

  3. Add the creamed mixture and all other ingredients to the eggs.

Cook and chill

  1. Cook in a double boiler or set the pan in a large pan of hot water, stirring until well thickened.

  2. Chill the dressing and thin with whipped cream or milk as needed for immediate use.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Olive + celerytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken and emulsify the dressing as they set when gently heated.
Cornstarch
Thickens the dressing by swelling in heat as it cooks.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for a softer, smoother texture.

The step that matters

Cooking until well thickened. Egg proteins set as they heat, thickening the dressing. Heating gently in a double boiler and stirring keeps the eggs from scrambling, which would leave lumps and a grainy texture.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, olive, sugar, lemon, mustard):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, olive, sugar, lemon, mustard. 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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