Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mayonnaise Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the emulsion
Place the uncooked egg yolk in a cold bowl and beat it well with a wooden spoon.
Add the coarse sea salt and mustard powder, mixing well for a minute.
Slowly pour in the oil, a few drops at a time, alternating with a few drops of vinegar.
As you add the oil, the sauce will thicken; when it resembles jelly, alternate adding lemon juice with the oil.
Once the egg has absorbed ½ cup of oil, finish the sauce by adding a pinch of cayenne pepper and ½ teaspoon of vinegar.
Season
Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, pepper, mustard, or cayenne if needed.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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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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Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,816 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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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
- Egg yolk
- Its lecithin emulsifies the oil into droplets, so the sauce thickens instead of separating.
- Oil
- Forms the bulk of the sauce, giving it its rich body and creamy texture.
- Mustard powder
- Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp, savoury flavour.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the oil.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and fresh flavour that balances the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Adding the oil slowly at the start. The yolk can only hold so much oil at first. Adding oil too fast before the emulsion forms makes the mixture split into greasy liquid instead of thickening into mayonnaise.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, lemon, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, lemon, 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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