Name: Vinaigeette Sauce
Ingredients: 1 shallot, finely chopped; 2 branches of parsley, finely chopped; 2 branches of chervil, finely chopped; 2 branches of chives, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 3 tablespoons vinegar; 4 tablespoons good oil

Why it works: Chervil and chive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 370 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Vinaigeette Sauce

Ingredients

1 shallot, finely chopped
2 branches of parsley, finely chopped
2 branches of chervil, finely chopped
2 branches of chives, finely chopped
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons vinegar
4 tablespoons good oil

Directions

Prepare

Finely chop the shallot, parsley, chervil, and chives.
Place the chopped ingredients in a sauce bowl.

Make the vinaigrette

Add the salt, pepper, and vinegar; stir well.
Add the oil and mix thoroughly.

Serve

Serve immediately.

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.

Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together370 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Shallot + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together266 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Shallot + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together450 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together774 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar: Provides the sharp acidity that balances the richness of the oil.
Good oil: Forms the body of the dressing and carries flavour and a silky mouthfeel.
Shallot: Adds a mild, sharp onion flavour that stands out against the herbs.
Sea salt: Seasons the dressing and helps draw out flavour from the herbs.

The step that matters

Mix the oil in thoroughly. Oil and vinegar are immiscible, so they separate quickly. Mixing thoroughly, ideally with an emulsifier or continuous whisking, creates a temporary emulsion that keeps the dressing evenly blended until serving.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, chervil, chive, pepper, vinegar):

Tarragonfits better
Capersfits better
Parsleythe original
Thymefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, chervil, chive, pepper, vinegar. 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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Vinaigeette Sauce