Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Salad Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Mash the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs in a plate with a fork.
Add ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt and 2 teaspoons of mustard; mix well.
Gradually add 3 tablespoons of sweet oil or fresh cream while stirring continuously.
Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar and stir until smooth.
Optionally, add 1 tablespoon of anchovy sauce if serving with fish, prawns, or lobsters.
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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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,330 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,120 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil and cream, giving the sauce a thick, smooth body.
- Mustard
- Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp, pungent flavour.
- Sweet oil or fresh cream
- Supplies fat that gives the sauce its richness and creamy texture.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the fat.
- Anchovy sauce
- Adds a salty, savoury depth to the sauce when served with seafood.
The step that matters
Gradually add the oil or cream while stirring continuously. Adding fat slowly while stirring lets the yolk lecithin disperse it into tiny droplets. Dumping it in at once can break the emulsion, leaving a greasy, separated sauce instead of a smooth one.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, vinegar, anchovy, sauce):
- Mustardthe original
- Horseradishfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, vinegar, anchovy, sauce. 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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