Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 824 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place a round-bottomed basin in a deep pan filled with pounded ice.
Add the egg yolks, pepper, and salt to the basin.
Make the sauce
Using a wooden spoon, work the yolks while gradually adding the salad oil and tarragon vinegar in a 5:1 ratio until the desired sauce consistency is reached.
Stir in the chopped tarragon, chervil, and shallot.
If the sauce separates, restore it by mixing in a spoonful of cold white sauce.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together824 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Chervil + shallottop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together266 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tarragon + shallottop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together602 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,399 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,547 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Lecithin in the yolks emulsifies the oil and vinegar, holding the sauce together and thickening it.
- Salad oil
- Forms the droplets that give the sauce its rich body and smooth texture.
- Tarragon vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
- Shallot
- Adds a mild onion-like aroma and savoury bite.
- Chopped tarragon
- Contributes a fresh, aniseed-like aroma to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the oil gradually. The egg yolk can only hold a limited amount of oil in emulsion at a time. Adding oil too quickly overwhelms it, so the sauce separates and turns greasy.
Flavor stand-ins for the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, tarragon, vinegar, chervil):
- Shallotthe original
- Chiveabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, tarragon, vinegar, chervil. 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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