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 Dressing, Dr. Ketchmer's
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg yolks with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Stir in the water or cream, sugar, salt, and mustard.
Finally, add the vinegar and mix well.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + mustardtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,424 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Hard boiled egg yolks
- Lecithin in the yolks helps bind the oil and vinegar into a smooth, stable dressing.
- Salad oil
- Supplies fat for a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the yolks and oil.
- Prepared mustard
- Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp flavour.
- Sugar
- Softens the sharpness of the vinegar with mild sweetness.
- Water or cream
- Adds moisture and thins the dressing.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, sugar, vinegar):
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Horseradishfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, sugar, 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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