Name: Tartare Sauce
Ingredients: ½ pint Mayonnaise dressing; 3 olives; 1 gherkin, chopped; 1 tablespoon capers; 1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar

Why it works: Capers and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 379 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Tartare Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the Mayonnaise dressing, olives, gherkin, capers, and tarragon vinegar, and mix well until all ingredients are evenly incorporated.
Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.

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.

Capers + tarragontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together379 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Olive + caperstop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,688 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,547 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Olive + tarragontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,323 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Mayonnaise dressing: Forms the creamy base and carries the flavour of the other ingredients.
Capers: Add a sharp, briny bite that cuts through the richness of the mayonnaise.
Gherkin: Adds crunch and a tangy, sour note.
Tarragon vinegar: Adds acidity and a distinct herbal aroma.