Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
In a saucepan, combine egg yolks, butter, mustard, sugar, celery seed, salt, and pepper.
Cook over low heat until thick, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in cider vinegar.
Store
Bottle the dressing and store in the refrigerator.
If too thick to pour, thin with additional vinegar.
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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Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify and thicken the dressing as they cook, giving it a rich, smooth body.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the dressing taste smooth and full.
- Mixed mustard
- Adds sharpness and helps stabilise the emulsion.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the richness and sharpens the flavour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that rounds out the acidity.
The step that matters
Cooking over low heat while stirring constantly. Egg yolks thicken when gently heated, but too much heat scrambles them into lumps. Constant stirring and low heat spread the warmth evenly so the dressing thickens smoothly.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, mustard, sugar, pepper, cider, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, mustard, sugar, pepper, cider, 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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