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Mayonnaise Dressing

A cold oil and vinegar dressing made with raw egg yolk and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,297 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chill all materials and utensils before making the dressing.

  2. For easier mixing, mash the hard‑boiled yolk of an egg and mix it with the raw yolk before starting.

Make the dressing

  1. Stir together ½ tablespoon olive oil and 4 tablespoons vinegar.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, and the beaten yolk of 1 raw egg.

  3. Mix well, then add more olive oil, a drop or two at a time, stirring constantly.

  4. After using ½ cup of oil, add the remainder in a thin stream while stirring continuously.

  5. Pour in 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar from time to time, using no more than 1/6 as much vinegar as oil.

  6. When finished, add a little more salt and pepper.

  7. If the dressing curdles, start again with a chilled raw egg yolk and add the curdled mixture a few drops at a time.

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. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. White pepper + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  4. Olive + white peppertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together586 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Olive + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolk
Emulsifies the oil and vinegar, holding them together as a thick, smooth dressing.
Olive oil
Provides the fat that forms the body and rich texture of the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the richness of the oil and sharpens the flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the oil slowly. Oil must be added a drop or two at a time at first, while stirring constantly, so the egg yolk can disperse it into tiny droplets. Adding oil too fast breaks the emulsion, causing the dressing to curdle or separate.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, vinegar, egg):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar, egg. 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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