Why it works: Mustard and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 901 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the dressing
In a bowl, mix together mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Add vinegar, cream, salad oil, tarragon vinegar, and egg yolks; mix well.
Thicken over heat
Pour the mixture into a jar and place it in a pan of cold water.
Gradually heat the water, stirring until the mixture thickens.
Cool and bottle
Once cooled, transfer to well-corked bottles and shake before using.
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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Mustard + tarragontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together901 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,399 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,547 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil and vinegar and thicken the dressing as they gently set with heat.
- Mustard
- Helps hold the oil and vinegar together as a stable emulsion, adding sharpness.
- Salad oil
- Provides fat and a smooth, rich mouthfeel in the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the dressing its tang and balances the richness.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and body, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the acidity of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Heating gently while stirring until it thickens. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with heat, but too much heat or no stirring can curdle or scramble them, leaving a grainy dressing instead of a smooth one.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, vinegar, cream, tarragon, egg):
- Mustardthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotfits less well
- Asparagusfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, vinegar, cream, tarragon, egg. 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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