Why it works: Mustard and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,816 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Oil Mayonnaise I
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Ensure all ingredients and dishes are cold.
In a bowl, combine mustard, salt, and cayenne.
Make the mayonnaise
Add the egg yolks and lemon juice, whisking until smooth.
Slowly drizzle in the oil while continuously whisking until emulsified.
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.
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Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,816 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Mustard + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,210 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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 yolks
- Their lecithin emulsifies the oil and water, holding the sauce together and making it thick.
- Oil
- Forms the bulk of the sauce, giving it richness and body once emulsified.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps stabilize the emulsion.
- Mustard
- Contains natural emulsifiers that help the oil and egg yolks bind together.
The step that matters
Drizzling in the oil. Adding oil too quickly overwhelms the egg yolks, so the emulsion breaks and the sauce turns runny and greasy. Adding it slowly while whisking lets tiny droplets become evenly suspended.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, lemon):
- Asparagusfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, lemon. 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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