Why it works: Olive and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,922 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Mayonnaise
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks until well combined.
Add the dry mustard and honey, mixing until blended.
Slowly add the olive oil and lemon juice, alternating between the two, until fully incorporated.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,816 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Honey + olivetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,792 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Mustard + honeytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together919 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Their lecithin helps hold the oil and lemon juice together as a stable emulsion.
- Olive oil
- Provides the fat that gives mayonnaise its thick, rich body and smooth texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that balances the richness of the oil and sharpens the flavor.
- Dry mustard
- Adds sharp flavor and helps stabilize the emulsion.
- Honey
- Adds a little sweetness that rounds out the acidity and mustard.
The step that matters
Adding the oil and lemon juice slowly. Oil must be broken into tiny droplets and dispersed in the egg yolk mixture to form an emulsion. Adding it too quickly overwhelms the yolks, so the droplets cannot be suspended and the mayonnaise can split or stay runny.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, honey, olive, lemon):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, honey, olive, 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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