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 finely rubbed yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs, mustard, and salt.
Add the beaten yolks of 2 raw eggs and sugar, mixing well.
Slowly pour in fresh sweet oil while beating until the mixture thickens.
Add vinegar until the dressing reaches your desired consistency.
If the dressing is not spicy enough, 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
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil and vinegar, giving the dressing a thick, creamy body.
- English mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps hold the emulsion together.
- Fresh sweet oil
- Forms the rich, fatty body of the dressing when beaten into the yolks.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Slowly pour in the oil while beating. Egg yolks can only hold oil in suspension if it is added gradually while beating. Adding it too fast breaks the emulsion, so the dressing stays thin and separates instead of thickening.
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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