Why it works: Chervil and tarragon 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 ↓
Salad Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Mash the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs with a fork in a bowl.
Add the mustard and sauce, mixing well.
Gradually incorporate the oil and vinegar until it forms a creamy consistency.
Prepare and serve
Finely chop the chervil and tarragon and mix them with the lettuce.
Keep the sauce separate until ready to serve.
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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Chervil + tarragontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together824 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Chervil + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together396 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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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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Tarragon + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together425 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Mustard + tarragontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together901 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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 and vinegar, giving the dressing a creamy, thick body.
- Mustard
- Helps hold the oil and vinegar together in a stable emulsion.
- Oil
- Provides fat and a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Gradually incorporate the oil and vinegar. Adding oil slowly while mixing lets small droplets disperse and be held by the egg yolk and mustard. Adding it too fast can cause the dressing to split and separate instead of becoming creamy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sauce, vinegar, chervil, tarragon, lettuce):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Beetrootfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sauce, vinegar, chervil, tarragon, lettuce. 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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