Why it works: Egg and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
East Indian Salad Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the yolks from the hard-boiled eggs and place them in a bowl.
Mash the yolks until smooth.
Gradually mix in the curry powder, oil, and vinegar.
Blend well until fully combined.
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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Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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
- Eggs
- Egg yolks form a rich, creamy base that emulsifies the oil and vinegar into a smooth sauce.
- Curry powder
- Provides the warm, aromatic spice flavour that defines the sauce.
- Oil
- Adds fat and richness, carrying the flavour and giving the sauce its body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the yolks and oil.
The step that matters
Gradually mix in the curry powder, oil, and vinegar.. Adding oil and vinegar slowly to the mashed yolks lets the mixture emulsify. Adding them all at once can cause the sauce to separate and turn thin or greasy.
“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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