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Salad

Boiled Dressing

A boiled dressing made from eggs, vinegar, butter, sugar, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Boiled Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the eggs until light without separating them.

  2. Add the vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and melted butter. Mix well.

  3. Place the mixture over hot water and stir constantly until thickened.

Finish and serve

  1. Cool the dressing.

  2. If the dressing is too thick, thin it with cream or olive oil as desired.

  3. Serve the dressing.

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 + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the dressing as they cook and form the creamy base.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, tangy flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the dressing.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Stir constantly over hot water until thickened. Egg proteins set gently as they heat. If the heat is too high or stirring stops, the eggs can scramble or curdle, leaving a grainy dressing instead of a smooth, thick one.

“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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