Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Salad Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Mash the yolk of the hard-boiled egg with salt.
Add mustard and stir in olive oil (or melted butter or cream) gradually.
Mix in vinegar gradually.
Serve
Serve in a sauce dish or mix with the 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.
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 + 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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Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,210 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + olivetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,340 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
- Hard-boiled egg yolk
- Its fat and emulsifying proteins help bind the oil and vinegar into a smooth dressing.
- Mustard
- Its natural emulsifiers help keep the oil and vinegar from separating, and it adds sharpness.
- Olive oil
- Provides fat for a silky, rich texture and carries flavour through the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil and yolk.
The step that matters
Add the oil gradually. Adding oil slowly while stirring lets the yolk and mustard emulsify it into fine droplets. Dumping it in at once can cause the dressing to split and look greasy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, olive, vinegar):
- Cucumberfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
- Tomatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, olive, vinegar. 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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