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 ↓
Salad Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
In a bowl, rub the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs with the back of a wooden spoon until fine.
Add salt, pepper, sugar, mustard, white vinegar, and tarragon vinegar.
Stir in one direction until thoroughly blended.
Finally, add three tablespoons of heavy cream and mix well.
Serve
Serve from a salad bottle or pour over the salad.
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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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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Vinegar + tarragontop 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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Pepper + mustardtop 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
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Their fat and emulsifying lecithin bind the vinegar and cream into a smooth, thick dressing.
- Heavy cream
- Adds fat and body, giving the dressing a rich, mellow texture.
- Prepared mustard
- Contains natural emulsifiers that help hold the oil-free dressing together and add sharpness.
- White vinegar
- Provides acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
The step that matters
Rubbing the yolks until fine. Mashing the yolks to a smooth paste breaks them into very small particles that disperse evenly, so the dressing blends without lumps and emulsifies more evenly.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, sugar, vinegar, tarragon, cream):
- Mustardthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotfits less well
- Asparagusfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, sugar, vinegar, tarragon, 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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