Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Tartar-sauce.
Ingredients
Directions
In a small saucepan, combine the egg yolks, vinegar, and salt.
Whip the mixture quickly until it forms a creamy consistency.
Gradually add the sweet oil drop by drop, mixing well.
Stir in the mustard, minced parsley, and cayenne pepper.
Heat the sauce thoroughly, but do not boil.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,588 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil and thicken the sauce into a creamy texture.
- Sweet oil
- Provides fat and body, forming a rich emulsion with the yolks.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the oil.
- Mustard
- Contributes sharpness and helps stabilize the emulsion.
The step that matters
Heat the sauce thoroughly, but do not boil. Egg yolks thicken with gentle heat but curdle and turn grainy when they boil, so the sauce must be warmed only enough to heat through.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, parsley, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, parsley, 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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