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Salad

Kaiser Serif — Imperial Mustard

A mustard made with sardines, shallots, capers, garlic, vinegar, mustard, oil, sugar, and salt, left to mature for two weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 405 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Kaiser Serif — Imperial Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Chop sardines, shallots, capers, and garlic finely.

  2. Boil them in water for 10 minutes.

  3. Press and strain the mixture, reserving the water.

Make the mustard

  1. Combine the reserved water with tarragon vinegar and common vinegar, and boil together.

  2. Scald the mustard with the vinegar mixture until smooth.

  3. Stir in salad oil, sugar, and salt until well combined.

Pot and rest

  1. Transfer to small pots or glasses and seal with bladders if necessary.

  2. Let the mustard sit for two weeks before using.

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.

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.

  1. Shallot + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together405 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Capers + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together624 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Shallot + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Capers + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together379 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Shallot + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together859 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mustard
Provides the main pungent flavor and body of the condiment.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity and sharp aroma that balance the mustard's heat.
Capers
Contribute briny, tangy notes that add savory depth.
Sardines
Add a savory, umami-rich background flavor to the mixture.
Salad oil
Adds fat that gives the mustard a smoother, rounder texture.

The step that matters

Scalding the mustard with the vinegar mixture until smooth. Heating mustard mellows its sharp volatile compounds and helps it blend into a smooth paste. Overheating or not blending fully can leave the texture grainy or the flavor harsh.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, capers, tarragon, vinegar, mustard, sugar):

  1. Fennelfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, capers, tarragon, vinegar, mustard, sugar. 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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