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 ↓
Mayonnaise Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the emulsion
Combine salt, pepper, cayenne, egg yolk, and mustard if using in a deep bowl.
Mix until creamy.
Slowly add salad oil drop by drop while stirring constantly until thick.
Gradually stir in vinegar or lemon juice until the mixture is liquid again.
Continue adding oil as before and more vinegar when it thickens, maintaining a ratio of three parts oil to one part vinegar.
Finish by adding more oil.
Rescue a curdled dressing
If the dressing curdles, start over with a new egg yolk in a separate bowl.
Add the curdled mixture by teaspoonfuls while stirring.
Scale up
To make a quart of dressing, use the yolks of three eggs.
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.
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,210 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolk
- Its lecithin emulsifies the oil and vinegar so they stay blended as a thick sauce.
- Salad oil
- Forms the bulk of the sauce, giving it richness and a thick, creamy body.
- Vinegar or lemon juice
- Adds acidity that balances the richness and thins the emulsion as it thickens.
- Mustard
- Helps stabilise the emulsion by adding particles that keep oil droplets separated.
The step that matters
Adding the oil slowly. Oil must be dispersed into tiny droplets around the egg yolk before more is added. Adding it too fast overwhelms the yolk's emulsifiers, so the mixture breaks and curdles.
Swap the mustard
The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, egg, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Cabbagefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg, 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.
More mayonnaise recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.