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Dessert

Slaw Dressing

A creamy dressing made with egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar, butter, mustard, salt, vinegar, cream or milk, cayenne pepper, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Slaw Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the yolks of 3 eggs with 1 teaspoon cornstarch and ½ cup sugar.

  2. Dissolve the cornstarch in a little milk.

  3. Add 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ cup vinegar.

  4. Stir in 1 cup cream or milk and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

  5. Cook in a double boiler until thick.

Finish and serve

  1. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites before serving.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing and add richness as they cook into a custard.
Egg whites
Add lightness and airy body when folded in stiffly beaten.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid so the dressing sets smooth and holds its body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Cream or milk
Supplies liquid and richness, giving the dressing a smooth, creamy body.

The step that matters

Cook in a double boiler until thick. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated. Gentle, indirect heat lets the cornstarch and yolks thicken the dressing smoothly into a custard.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, vinegar, cream, 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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