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 base
Combine mustard powder, coarse sea salt, and mignonette pepper in a bowl.
Mix well with the back of a spoon.
Emulsify and finish
Gradually add oil, mixing until you achieve a paste-like consistency.
Beat in the yolks of two raw eggs one at a time, continuing to add oil until the sauce reaches your desired thickness.
Add tarragon vinegar and mix until the sauce is creamy.
Strain the sauce into a serving dish.
Refrigerate if made in hot weather, and serve cold.
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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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 + 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
- Emulsifier that binds oil and vinegar into a stable, thick sauce.
- Oil
- Supplies the fat that gives mayonnaise its body and richness.
- Tarragon vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens flavour and helps keep the sauce creamy.
- Mustard powder
- Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds sharp flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the oil slowly while beating in the yolks. Oil must be dispersed into small droplets among the egg yolk proteins. Adding it too fast overwhelms the yolk, so the emulsion breaks and the sauce turns runny and greasy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, egg, tarragon, vinegar, cream):
- Mustardthe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg, tarragon, vinegar, cream. 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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