Why it works: Olive and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,922 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
French Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl or bottle, combine salt and olive oil.
Stir with a fork or shake if in a bottle.
Add lemon juice or vinegar, mix thoroughly, and pour over the salad.
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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Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Olive oil
- Provides fat and body, carrying the flavour of the dressing across the salad.
- Lemon juice or vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Mixing in the lemon juice or vinegar. Oil and acid do not mix on their own. Thorough mixing breaks the oil into tiny droplets dispersed in the acid, creating a temporary emulsion. If it is under-mixed, the oil and acid separate quickly and the dressing tastes uneven.
“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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