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
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the hard-boiled egg yolks, mustard, and salt.
Add the raw egg yolks and sugar, mixing well.
Slowly pour in the sweet oil while beating until the mixture thickens.
Add vinegar until the dressing reaches your desired consistency.
If you want more heat, add a little Cayenne pepper.
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 + 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).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,424 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raw egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil into the mixture, giving the dressing a thick, creamy body.
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Add body and a creamy texture to the dressing.
- Fresh sweet oil
- Provides fat that, emulsified with the yolks, gives the dressing its richness and body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and sets its tang.
- English mustard
- Adds sharp flavor and helps stabilize the emulsion.
The step that matters
Slowly pour in the sweet oil while beating. Adding the oil too fast overwhelms the yolks, so they cannot hold the oil in droplets and the dressing breaks into separated oil. Pouring slowly while beating lets the yolk lecithin coat each droplet, producing a thick, stable emulsion.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, vinegar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits less well
- Cabbagefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, vinegar, pepper. 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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