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
Prepare
Chill the eggs and oil in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before starting.
Place the uncooked egg yolk in a cold bowl and beat it well.
Add the salt and mustard powder, mixing them together thoroughly.
Make the mayonnaise
Slowly pour in the oil, a few drops at a time, alternating with drops of vinegar.
As you add the oil, the sauce will thicken; continue until it resembles jelly.
Once thickened, alternate adding lemon juice with the oil.
Rescue and finish
If the sauce curdles, beat another egg yolk in a separate bowl and gradually mix in the curdled mayonnaise.
Finish by adding more oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and Cayenne to taste.
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
- Emulsifies the oil and vinegar, holding tiny droplets together to form a thick sauce.
- Oil
- Forms the bulk of the sauce, giving it richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
- Mustard powder
- Helps stabilise the emulsion so the sauce is less likely to separate.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the richness of the oil and sharpens the flavour.
- Lemon juice
- Adds bright acidity and fresh flavour that balances the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Adding the oil slowly at the start. Egg yolk can only emulsify a limited amount of oil at first. Adding oil a few drops at a time lets each droplet be coated and suspended, so the sauce thickens. Pouring too fast can break the emulsion and make it curdle.
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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