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Sauce

Mayonnaise Sauce

A cold egg yolk-based sauce flavored with pepper, salt, olive oil, and tarragon vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Mayonnaise Sauce

Why it works: Pepper and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mayonnaise Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine egg yolks, pepper, and salt.

  2. Gradually whisk in olive oil until the mixture resembles thick cream.

  3. Stir in tarragon vinegar.

  4. Serve cold with fish or salads.

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.

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.

  1. Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Olive + tarragontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,323 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsifying agents that hold the oil and water-based parts together, giving the sauce its body.
Olive oil
Supplies the fat that, dispersed into droplets, thickens the sauce into a rich, creamy texture.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Gradually whisk in olive oil. Adding oil too quickly before the yolks can absorb it can break the emulsion, leaving a runny, separated sauce. Slow addition lets the yolk lecithin surround each oil droplet so the mixture thickens.

Swap the tarragon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, olive, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, olive, 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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