Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Heat the butter in a double boiler until hot.
Add the flour and stir until smooth, being careful not to brown.
Stir in the milk and bring to a boil.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, salt, and mustard together.
Add the vinegar to the egg mixture and stir into the boiling mixture.
Continue stirring until the dressing thickens.
Cool and serve
Let it cool, then bottle it.
When ready to use, add the juice of ½ lemon and whipped cream.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Egg proteins set as they heat, thickening the dressing into a smooth, creamy body.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the butter and milk mixture, giving the dressing body and stability.
- Butter
- Fat adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Acidity gives the dressing its sharp, tangy flavour and balances the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Sweetness softens the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
The step that matters
Stirring the eggs into the boiling mixture. Egg proteins can scramble if they meet very hot liquid too quickly or without constant stirring. Keep stirring steadily so the eggs thicken the dressing smoothly instead of curdling.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, milk, pepper, vinegar, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, milk, pepper, vinegar, 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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