Name: Ravigote Sauce
Ingredients: 6 hard-boiled egg yolks; a pinch of tarragon leaves; a pinch of chervil leaves

Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ravigote Sauce

Ingredients

6 hard-boiled egg yolks
a pinch of tarragon leaves
a pinch of chervil leaves

Directions

Mash the hard‑boiled yolks in a bowl.
Add the tarragon and chervil leaves.
Mix until well combined.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together824 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Egg + cherviltop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together620 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Egg + tarragontop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,789 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

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

What each ingredient does

Hard-boiled egg yolks: Mashed yolks give the sauce its body, richness and creamy texture.
Tarragon leaves: Provides the sharp, aniseed-like aroma that defines the sauce.
Chervil leaves: Adds a delicate, fresh herbal aroma that lightens the richness.