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Sauce

Sauce Mayonnaise À LA Tartare

A mayonnaise-based sauce with hard‑boiled egg yolks, raw yolks, mustard, oil, vinegar, and chopped herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sauce Mayonnaise À LA Tartare

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine the hard-boiled egg yolks and raw egg yolks.

  2. Add mustard, oil, and vinegar gradually while whisking vigorously.

  3. Once combined, fold in the chopped herbs.

  4. Season to taste and serve.

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 + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together370 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Tarragon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mustard + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together901 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Tarragon + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together589 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw egg yolks
Emulsify the oil and vinegar, giving the sauce its body and smooth, thick texture.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Add body and a creamy, smooth texture to the emulsion.
Oil
Forms the bulk of the emulsion, giving the sauce its richness and fat.
Mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion so the oil and vinegar stay combined.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Adding the oil, mustard and vinegar gradually while whisking vigorously. Oil must be dispersed into small droplets slowly so the egg yolk lecithin can coat them. Adding it too fast or without enough whisking can break the emulsion, leaving the sauce oily and separated.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Thymefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mustard, vinegar, tarragon, chervil, chive. 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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