Why it works: Mustard and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 624 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Tartare-sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs into two bowls.
Stir the yolks gently to break them.
Add salt, pepper, and vinegar to the yolks.
Slowly pour in the salad oil drop by drop while whisking continuously until combined.
Taste and add more vinegar if needed for sharpness.
Stir in the mustard or tarragon vinegar.
Prepare the garnish
Blanch the parsley in boiling water with a pinch of salt and baking soda for 2-3 seconds.
Remove and dry the parsley thoroughly, then chop finely to yield about 1 teaspoon.
Chop the gherkins or capers finely to fill a tablespoon.
Finish and serve
Combine the chopped parsley and gherkins or capers into the sauce and mix well.
Serve the sauce in a sauce-tureen.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Mustard + caperstop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together624 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Parsley + caperstop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,550 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,588 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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 the vinegar and seasoning, giving the sauce its thick body.
- Salad oil
- Forms the rich, creamy bulk of the sauce when whisked into the yolks.
- French vinegar
- Adds the sharpness that balances the richness of the oil and yolks.
- Mustard
- Adds flavour and helps stabilise the emulsion.
- Gherkins or capers
- Add a sharp, briny bite and texture to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the oil. Oil must be poured in slowly while whisking, so droplets disperse and the yolks can emulsify it. Adding it too fast causes the sauce to split and turn oily.
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, vinegar, mustard, capers):
- Tarragonbetter flavor fit
- Dillabout as good a flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, vinegar, mustard, capers. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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