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Mustard Dressing

A thickened mustard dressing made with mustard, salt, sugar, flour, cayenne pepper, egg, ham gravy, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mustard Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the mustard, salt, sugar, flour, and cayenne pepper with the ham gravy until well combined.

  2. Beat the egg in a separate bowl and then mix it into the mustard mixture.

  3. Gradually add the vinegar to the mixture to prevent lumps.

  4. Cook the mixture in a double boiler or a bowl over boiling water, stirring often, until it thickens.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Mustard + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg
Thickens and enriches the dressing as it cooks, giving it body and a smooth, creamy texture.
Flour
Starch that absorbs liquid and thickens the dressing as it heats.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the dressing.
Mustard
Provides the main sharp flavor and pungency of the dressing.

The step that matters

Adding the vinegar gradually. Pouring vinegar in all at once can make the flour and egg clump into lumps. Adding it slowly and stirring keeps the mixture smooth before it is heated and thickened.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, pepper, egg, ham, vinegar):

  1. Mustardthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits less well
  4. Cucumberfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, pepper, egg, ham, 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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