Why it works: Chervil and tarragon 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 ↓
Vegetable Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the vegetables
Boil equal weights of French beans, carrots, green peas, turnips, and asparagus separately until tender.
Dry the vegetables with a clean cloth and let them cool completely.
Cut the vegetables into dice of ¼ to ⅜ inch.
Cut the French beans into squares.
Arrange and serve
Arrange the French beans in the center of a dish, then layer the carrots, peas, turnips, and asparagus around them in narrow rows.
If the dish is large enough, repeat the layering in the same order.
Sprinkle the surface with 1 tablespoon of Ravigote.
Serve with mayonnaise sauce on the side.
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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Chervil + tarragontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together824 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together370 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + cherviltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together184 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tarragon + chivetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together589 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- French beans
- Hold the centre of the dish as a firm, contrasting base for the layered vegetables.
- Carrots
- Add firm texture and colour to the layered rows.
- Green peas
- Add sweetness and soft texture among the diced vegetables.
- Turnips
- Contribute firm texture and a mild, slightly peppery flavour.
- Asparagus
- Adds a tender texture and a distinct vegetal flavour.
- Mayonnaise sauce
- Adds fat and richness, coating the vegetables with creamy moisture.
The step that matters
Boiling each vegetable separately until tender. Vegetables cook at different rates, so boiling them separately lets each reach tenderness without overcooking the others. Drying and cooling them fully keeps the diced pieces from releasing water that would thin the dressing and make the layers soggy.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, asparagus, beans, chervil, tarragon, chive):
- Lentilsfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, asparagus, beans, chervil, tarragon, chive. 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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