Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mayonaise Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In an earthen bowl, combine the egg yolks, dry mustard, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Beat with a whisk until very light.
Slowly add the salad oil drop by drop while beating constantly.
If the mixture thickens too much, add lemon juice until you have used 2 tablespoons.
Add vinegar to taste, but be careful not to thin it too much.
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.
-
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,816 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil into the mixture and thicken it into a stable, creamy sauce.
- Salad oil
- Provides the fat that forms the body and richness of the sauce as it is whisked in.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens flavor and helps thin or adjust the sauce's thickness.
- Dry mustard
- Contains natural emulsifiers that help bind the oil and water phases together.
The step that matters
Slowly add the salad oil drop by drop while beating constantly. Oil must be dispersed into the egg yolk in tiny droplets while whisking. Adding it too fast overwhelms the yolk's emulsifying ability, so the mixture breaks and separates instead of thickening.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, lemon, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, lemon, 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.
More mayonnaise recipes
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.