Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓
Fish Mayonnaise
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Take the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs and rub them into a paste with Lautier's salad oil.
Add salt, pepper, mustard, two teaspoons white sugar, and six tablespoons of vinegar.
Beat the mixture until light.
Assemble and serve
Cut a pound or so of cold boiled fish into pieces an inch long.
Just before pouring the dressing on, add lightly the white of one egg beaten stiff.
Serve the fish in a glass dish, with six tablespoons of vinegar, and stir in half the dressing.
Spread the remaining dressing over the top, and garnish with lettuce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Mustard | 1 tsp (5g) yellow | 3 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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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Vinegar + mustardtop 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).
-
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Tea + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together260 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Mashed into a paste, they bind and thicken the dressing with richness.
- White sugar
- Adds a touch of sweetness to balance the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that sharpens the dressing and cuts the richness of the fat.
- Egg white
- Whipped stiff and folded in lightly, it adds air and a lighter texture.
The step that matters
Adding the beaten egg white. Fold the stiffly beaten white in lightly, just before dressing. Overmixing deflates the foam, so the dressing loses the lightness the white was meant to give.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, egg, tea, sugar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Asparagusfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, egg, tea, sugar, pepper. 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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