Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
German Remoulade Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Grate the onion and set aside.
Sieve the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs into a bowl.
Add the dry mustard, sugar, oil, grated onion, vinegar, salt, and cayenne to the bowl and mix all ingredients smoothly.
Serve with celery.
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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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify with the oil to give the sauce a thick, smooth body.
- Oil
- Provides fat that, emulsified with the yolks, gives the sauce its creamy richness.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the fat and sweetness.
- Dry mustard
- Adds pungent flavour and helps stabilise the emulsion.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that rounds out the sharp vinegar and mustard.
- White onion
- Contributes sharp, aromatic flavour and moisture through its grated pulp.
The step that matters
Mix all ingredients smoothly. Oil must be incorporated slowly into the egg yolk so it forms a stable emulsion; adding it all at once or mixing too roughly can cause the sauce to split or turn thin and greasy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mustard, sugar, vinegar, pepper):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mustard, sugar, vinegar, 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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