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Salad

Russian Dressing

A mayonnaise-based dressing with chives, chili sauce, paprika, tarragon vinegar, mustard, salt, and pimento.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 901 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Russian Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine mayonnaise, chopped chives, chili sauce, paprika, tarragon vinegar, mustard, and salt.

  2. Add the chopped pimento and mix well.

  3. If the dressing is too thick, thin it with a little vinegar.

  4. Serve as a dressing or dip.

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. Tarragon + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together901 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Chive + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together589 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Chive + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together587 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mayonnaise
Forms the creamy base that gives the dressing its body and richness.
Chili sauce
Adds tomato-based sweetness, acidity and color to the dressing.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the mayonnaise.
Pimento
Adds mild sweetness and a soft, colorful texture throughout the dressing.

The step that matters

Thinning with vinegar. Mayonnaise thickens as it sits, and adding vinegar a little at a time loosens it evenly. Adding too much at once can make the dressing thin and sharp, so taste as you go.

Swap the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, tarragon, vinegar, mustard):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, tarragon, vinegar, mustard. 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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