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Salad

French Dressing

A vinaigrette dressing made with vinegar, butter, sugar, salt, mustard, cayenne pepper, egg yolks, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 saucepan, combine vinegar, butter, sugar, salt, mustard, and cayenne pepper; bring to a boil.

  2. Remove from heat and let cool.

  3. Once cooled, stir in the beaten egg yolks.

  4. Heat the mixture again, then let it cool completely.

Finish and chill

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

  2. Chill on ice until ready to serve.

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. Walnut + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together849 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Thicken the dressing and emulsify it into a rich, smooth body when gently heated.
Egg whites
Add airy lightness to the dressing when folded in gently at the end.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Sugar
Balances the acidity with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Reheating after adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the mixture gets too hot it can scramble, leaving lumps and a grainy texture. Heat gently and stir constantly to keep the dressing smooth.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Sesamefits about as well
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter, sugar, mustard, pepper, egg. 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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