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 mayonnaise
Combine the egg yolk, mustard, salt, and pepper in a soup plate and mix well with a fork.
Slowly add the oil drop by drop while continuously mixing until the desired quantity is reached.
Stir in a very small amount of Tarragon or Maille vinegar at the end.
Prepare and keep cool
Rub the plate with onion or garlic before making the sauce, but do not include them in the sauce.
In hot weather, keep the ingredients on ice to ensure the sauce emulsifies properly.
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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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Egg + tarragontop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,789 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,210 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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, holding the sauce together as a thick cream.
- Oil
- Forms the bulk of the sauce, giving it richness and a smooth, creamy body.
- Prepared mustard
- Acts as a second emulsifier that helps keep the oil suspended in the yolk mixture.
The step that matters
Adding the oil slowly, drop by drop. Oil added too fast overwhelms the yolk's emulsifier, so droplets fail to disperse and the sauce splits into a greasy, runny liquid. Continuous mixing while adding oil gradually lets each droplet get coated before the next one arrives.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, tarragon):
- Shallotfits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, tarragon. 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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