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Salad

French Dressing

A simple vinaigrette made with olive oil, vinegar, mustard, pepper, salt, and optional sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix a little pepper, salt, and mustard.

  2. Gradually add the olive oil while stirring continuously.

  3. Slowly add the vinegar and stir until thoroughly blended.

Finish and season

  1. Optionally, add chopped chives, gherkin, tarragon, chervil, parsley, or grated horseradish for extra flavor.

  2. Add a pinch of sugar if desired.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  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
Provides the fat and body of the dressing and carries its flavor.
Vinegar
Adds the sharp acidity that gives the dressing its bright taste.
Mustard
Acts as an emulsifier that helps the oil and vinegar stay blended together.

The step that matters

Adding the olive oil gradually while stirring. Oil added slowly into the seasoned mixture gets broken into tiny droplets that stay suspended. Adding it too quickly lets the oil separate from the vinegar, so the dressing turns greasy and splits instead of forming a smooth emulsion.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, vinegar, sugar, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Cucumberfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar, sugar, 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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