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Sauce

Cambridge Sauce

A sauce made from egg yolks, anchovies, capers, herbs, mustard, oil, vinegar, cayenne, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Chervil and tarragon 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 ↓

Cambridge Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Pound together the egg yolks, anchovy fillets, capers, chervil, tarragon, and chives until a fine paste forms.

  2. Add the mustard, oil, and vinegar, mixing as you would for mayonnaise.

  3. Season with cayenne and rub through a fine sieve using a spoon.

  4. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and whisk until smooth.

  5. Finish by stirring in the chopped parsley.

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. Chervil + tarragontop 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 the thick base of the sauce and give it a rich, creamy body.
Oil
Adds fat and richness, emulsifying with the yolk paste into a smooth sauce.
Mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp, pungent note.
Anchovy fillets
Contribute deep savoury flavour that gives the sauce its character.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich yolk and oil.

The step that matters

Adding the oil to the yolk paste. Oil must be added gradually and mixed in so it emulsifies with the yolks. Adding it too fast can cause the sauce to split or turn greasy instead of thick and smooth.

Swap the mustard

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

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

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