Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Heat the mustard, vinegar, salt, and 1 tablespoon of water in a saucepan.
Rub the hard-boiled yolks until fine and add them to the mixture.
Beat the raw eggs well with the dry mustard and add to the mixture.
Finish and serve
When the mixture boils, slowly add the hot butter sauce while stirring continuously.
Serve with salmon or bluefish.
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 + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,120 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Mustard + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,003 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raw eggs
- Thicken the sauce as they heat, giving it body and a smooth, coating texture.
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Add richness and a fine, creamy body to the sauce.
- French mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps keep the sauce emulsified.
- Black mustard, dry
- Adds pungent heat and aroma to the sauce.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness.
- Butter sauce
- Adds fat and smoothness, making the sauce rich and silky.
The step that matters
Adding the hot butter sauce. Raw eggs thicken when heated and can scramble or curdle if the hot liquid goes in too fast. Adding it slowly while stirring constantly lets the eggs warm gradually and keeps the sauce smooth.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, butter, sauce):
- Mustardthe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Cucumberfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, butter, sauce. 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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