Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and 118,967 recipes mention both. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Hollandaise Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, beat the egg yolks.
Stir in the cold water and vinegar.
Carefully stir over low heat until thickened, ensuring it does not curdle.
Gradually stir in the butter in small pieces.
Add salt 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.
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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and vinegar share little aroma chemistry, yet 12,922 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify with the butter and thicken the sauce as they gently cook.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that gives the sauce its smooth, silky body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the richness of the butter and yolks.
The step that matters
Stirring over low heat until thickened. Egg yolks thicken from gentle heat but scramble and curdle if they get too hot. Keeping the heat low and stirring constantly lets the yolks set into a smooth sauce.
“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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