Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the mustard and salt together.
Stir in the cream.
Add the vinegar drop by drop and use as required.
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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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Vinegar + sugartop 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).
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Cream + vinegartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,064 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Provides fat and body, giving the dressing a smooth, rich texture.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
- Made mustard
- Adds sharpness and helps hold the cream and vinegar together as a smooth dressing.
- Castor sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
The step that matters
Adding the vinegar drop by drop. Acid can cause dairy proteins in cream to thicken unevenly or curdle. Adding the vinegar slowly while stirring lets it disperse gradually, keeping the dressing smooth.
“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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