Why it works: Mustard and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Egg- Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the eggs hard and let them cool.
Grate the yolks and mix with dry mustard, salt, cayenne pepper, and enough oil to make a paste.
Assemble and serve
Add the chopped whites of the eggs, torn lettuce, chopped onion, and vinegar, then mix thoroughly.
Lay small leaves of lettuce in a dish before adding the salad.
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 + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,562 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Mashed with oil and mustard to form a rich, smooth base that holds the salad together.
- Oil
- Blends with the grated yolks to form a paste, adding richness and moisture.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and cuts the richness of the yolks and oil.
- Dry mustard
- Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness of the eggs.
- Egg whites
- Chopped and folded in to add texture and body to the salad.
The step that matters
Grating the yolks and mixing them into a paste. The yolks must be finely grated and worked with the oil until smooth; lumps left in the yolk paste will not blend evenly with the other ingredients, giving an uneven texture.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mustard, pepper, lettuce, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Broccolifits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mustard, pepper, lettuce, vinegar. 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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