Why it works: Tarragon and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Mayonnaise for Dressing Chaudfroids
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the Aspic Jelly and pour it into a basin.
Add the salad oil, vinegar, and coarse sea salt.
Whisk the mixture until smooth.
Stir in the lemon juice.
For easier mixing, place the bowl on ice.
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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Tarragon + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,137 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Aspic jelly
- Gelatin base that gives the dressing body and helps it set as it cools.
- Salad oil
- Fat that adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
- Chili or tarragon vinegar
- Acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the oil.
- Lemon juice
- Acidity and fresh aroma that brighten the dressing.
The step that matters
Whisk the mixture until smooth.. Whisking breaks the oil into tiny droplets dispersed through the liquid, so the dressing stays smooth. If the oil is added too quickly or the mixture is not whisked enough, the oil can separate out instead of staying emulsified.
“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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