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 ↓
Mayonnaise Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the emulsion
In a mortar or round-bottomed basin, mix the egg yolk, mustard, and salt with the back of a wooden spoon.
Gradually add the oil drop by drop until the sauce is thick like butter.
Add the tarragon vinegar and lemon juice.
Fix a broken sauce
If the sauce curdles, add a few drops of lemon juice and work until smooth.
If it curdles completely, start with another egg yolk and gradually add the curdled sauce to it, then continue as before.
For best results, make the sauce in a cool place.
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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Tarragon + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,137 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Tarragon + vinegartop 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 + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,816 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolk
- Its lecithin emulsifies the oil and water-based acids into a stable, thick sauce.
- Salad oil
- Forms the bulk of the sauce, giving richness and body once emulsified into droplets.
- Dry mustard
- Acts as an additional emulsifier and helps keep the sauce stable.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity for brightness and helps balance the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Adding the oil drop by drop. Oil must be dispersed into tiny droplets around the egg yolk proteins. Adding it too fast overwhelms the emulsifier, so the sauce splits and curdles instead of thickening.
“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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