Why it works: Pepper and lemon 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 Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
In a bowl, mix the mustard, salt, powdered sugar, and cayenne pepper.
Add the egg yolks and mix well.
Set the bowl in a pan of ice water and add ½ teaspoon vinegar.
Add the oil
Chill the olive oil thoroughly and add it gradually, starting with a drop at a time while stirring constantly.
As the mixture thickens, thin it with vinegar or lemon juice.
Continue adding oil and vinegar or lemon juice alternately until all is used, stirring constantly.
If the mixture curdles, take the yolk of another egg and slowly add the curdled mixture to it.
Use a silver fork, small wooden spoon, or Dover egg beater to mix.
Add the mayonnaise to meat or vegetables just before serving.
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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Pepper + lemontop 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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Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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 liquid, giving the dressing its thick, creamy structure.
- Olive oil
- Supplies the fat that is suspended in droplets to make the dressing rich and thick.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that thins the mixture and brightens its flavor.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that thins the mixture and sharpens its flavor.
- Mustard
- Helps hold the oil and yolk emulsion together and adds flavor.
The step that matters
Adding the oil. Oil must be added slowly, a drop at a time at first, while stirring constantly. The yolk lecithin can only surround small oil droplets, so adding oil too fast breaks the emulsion and the mixture curdles.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, egg, lemon, vinegar, olive):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, egg, lemon, vinegar, olive. 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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