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 ↓
Mayonnaise De Volaille
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fowl
Cut the cold fowl into small joints.
Steep the joints in a basin with oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt for 15 minutes.
Drain the joints on a cloth until dry.
Coat and arrange
Smoothly coat the joints with white mayonnaise sauce stiffened with aspic jelly.
Arrange the fowl pieces on a thick bed of well-seasoned salad in a pyramid form.
Garnish the base with chopped aspic jelly and neatly cut cucumber, and the top with sprigs of tarragon and chervil.
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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Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together824 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cucumber + cherviltop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together144 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Cucumber + tarragontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together274 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,399 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Cold boiled fowl
- Provides the main meat, cut into joints that the dressing coats.
- White mayonnaise sauce
- Forms a smooth, creamy coating that clings to the fowl joints.
- Aspic jelly
- Stiffens the mayonnaise so the coating sets firm and holds its shape.
- Well-seasoned salad
- Forms the base bed that supports the arranged fowl pieces.
The step that matters
Drying the joints before coating. Surface moisture thins the mayonnaise and stops it clinging evenly, so the joints should be drained on a cloth until dry before coating.
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, sauce, tarragon, chervil):
- Shallotfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, sauce, tarragon, chervil. 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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