Why it works: Lemon and olive 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 ↓
Oil Mayonnaise
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Ensure all ingredients and dishes are cold.
Mix the mustard, salt, and cayenne in a bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the beaten egg yolks.
Make the mayonnaise
Gradually add a few drops of olive oil while beating with an egg beater or wooden spoon.
Alternately add the lemon juice and the remaining olive oil, beating steadily until fully combined.
If the mixture becomes too thin and curdles, start with a fresh egg yolk and slowly add the curdled mixture, alternating with some lemon juice.
Finish
Before using, thin the mayonnaise with thick whipped cream if desired.
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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Lemon + olivetop 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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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
- Emulsifiers that hold the oil and lemon juice together as a smooth, thick sauce.
- Olive oil
- Supplies the fat that, dispersed through the yolk, gives mayonnaise its body and richness.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps stabilise the emulsion.
- Mustard
- Its natural emulsifiers help bind the oil and yolk and strengthen the emulsion.
The step that matters
Adding the oil. Oil must go in very slowly at first, while beating constantly, so that tiny droplets form and are coated by egg yolk proteins. Adding it too fast overwhelms the yolk, so the emulsion breaks and the mixture curdles and thins.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, lemon, olive):
- Asparagusfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, lemon, olive. 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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