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Sauce

Tartan Sauce

A tartan sauce made with egg yolks, olive oil, capers, olives, vinegar, mustard, cayenne pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Capers and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 624 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Tartan Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks and olive oil, whisking until smooth.

  2. Add the chopped capers and olives, mixing well.

  3. Stir in the vinegar, mustard, and cayenne pepper.

  4. Season with salt to taste.

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.

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.

  1. Capers + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together624 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Olive + caperstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,688 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Egg yolks
Emulsify the oil into a smooth, thick base that holds the sauce together.
Olive oil
Provides the fat that gives the sauce its rich, creamy body.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny bite that cuts through the richness of the oil and yolks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the fat.
Mustard
Adds sharpness and helps stabilise the emulsion.

The step that matters

Whisk the yolks and oil until smooth. Oil must be incorporated gradually into the egg yolks so they emulsify. Adding it too quickly, or not whisking enough, can cause the sauce to split and separate instead of becoming smooth and thick.

Swap the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, olive, vinegar, mustard, pepper):

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Capersthe original
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, olive, vinegar, mustard, pepper. 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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