Why it works: Vinegar and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,297 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
French Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
In a cup, mix vinegar, olive oil, pepper, and salt well.
Dress the salad
Pour the dressing over the salad just before serving.
Gently mix the salad without crushing the lettuce.
If mixing directly on the salad, first pour the oil, then mix.
In a spoon, combine vinegar, salt, and pepper until dissolved, then sprinkle 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.
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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Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that gives the dressing its tang and balances the oil.
- Olive oil
- Adds richness and carries flavor, and coats the lettuce leaves so the dressing clings to them.
The step that matters
Gently mix the salad without crushing the lettuce. Lettuce leaves are delicate cell structures. Crushing them bruises the tissue, which releases water and makes the leaves go limp and dark, so the salad wilts before it is eaten.
“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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