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
Cook the eggs
Boil the eggs for 30 minutes.
Place them in cold water and let them sit for a few minutes.
Carefully remove the shells without breaking the eggs.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks.
Make the filling and serve
In a bowl, mix the yolks with dry mustard, pepper, vinegar, and olive oil until smooth.
Spoon the mixture back into the egg whites.
Arrange the filled eggs on a plate and garnish with lettuce.
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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Olive + lettucetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,580 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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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
- Eggs
- Whites provide the structure that holds the filling, and the yolks form the creamy base.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat that makes the mashed yolks smooth and rich in texture.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the yolks.
- Dry mustard
- Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that complements the egg yolks.
The step that matters
Cook the eggs for 30 minutes and cool them promptly. Long boiling can leave a grey-green ring around the yolk, and eggs left hot can keep cooking. Cooling in cold water stops the cooking and makes the shells easier to remove without tearing the whites.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mustard, pepper, vinegar, olive):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Horseradishfits about as well
- Lettucethe original
- Cucumberfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mustard, pepper, vinegar, 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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