Name: French Mayonnaise
Ingredients: cayenne pepper; essence of anchovies or anchovy butter; lobster-coral; cold lobster; cold turbot or large soles; young fresh salad

Why it works: Anchovy and turbot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 110 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

French Mayonnaise

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare a thick mayonnaise sauce by mixing cayenne pepper, essence of anchovies or anchovy butter, and lobster-coral to taste.
Slice the cold lobster and turbot or soles obliquely to increase their size.
Arrange the fish slices alternately on a serving dish, forming a high border or chain.
Fill the center with young fresh salad and dress it with the mayonnaise just before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Anchovy + turbottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together110 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Anchovy + lobstertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together470 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Lobster + turbottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together163 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Pepper + anchovytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Pepper + lobstertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,247 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).