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 ↓
Cream Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Rub the yolks of 2 eggs smooth with mustard, salt, pepper, sugar, melted butter, and vinegar.
Add sweet cream and beat well with an egg beater.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify the dressing and thicken it into a creamy, smooth body.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the dressing a smoother mouthfeel.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the richness of the yolks and cream.
- Sweet cream
- Adds fat and moisture, making the dressing lighter and creamier.
- Prepared mustard
- Adds sharp flavor and helps stabilize the emulsion of yolks and fat.
The step that matters
Rubbing the yolks smooth before adding the cream. Yolks must be fully smoothed with the seasonings and vinegar first so they blend evenly; lumps of yolk will not emulsify into the cream and leave the dressing grainy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, sugar, butter, vinegar, cream):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, sugar, butter, vinegar, 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.
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