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Salad

Royal Salad Sauce

A creamy sauce made from egg yolks, anchovies, capers, mustard, herbs, oil, vinegar, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Royal Salad Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a mortar, combine the hard-boiled egg yolks, anchovies, capers, French mustard, and raw egg yolks.

  2. Add the tarragon, chervil, and chives, mixing well.

  3. Gradually work in the salad oil and vinegar until smooth.

  4. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve or tammy cloth.

  5. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together370 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Capers + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Capers + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together624 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Capers + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hard-boiled egg yolks
Form a rich, creamy base that thickens the sauce.
Raw egg yolks
Emulsify the oil and vinegar into a smooth, stable sauce.
Salad oil
Provides the fat that gives the sauce its body and smoothness.
French mustard
Helps emulsify the sauce and adds a sharp, tangy bite.
Anchovies
Add savory, salty depth to the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich yolks and oil.

The step that matters

Gradually work in the salad oil and vinegar until smooth. Adding oil slowly lets the yolk mixture emulsify, forming a stable, smooth sauce. Adding it too fast can cause the sauce to break and separate.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, capers, tarragon, chervil, chive, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Lettucefits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Beetrootfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, capers, tarragon, chervil, chive, 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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