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Mayonnaise

A creamy sauce made from egg yolks, oil, vinegar, mustard, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Mayonnaise

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

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl and strain them.

  2. Gradually mix in the pepper, salt, oil, vinegar, and mustard.

Finish and chill

  1. Add equal parts of cream and calves'-foot jelly if using 4 tablespoons of oil.

  2. Set the mixture on ice until needed.

Variations

  1. For a custard variation, combine 4 eggs, ½ cup milk, and gelatine, then cool.

  2. Add ½ cup cream and gradually mix in 1½ tablespoons of salad oil and tarragon vinegar with salt to taste.

  3. For a thicker sauce, slowly add oil and vinegar while stirring until it reaches a thick cream consistency.

  4. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.

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.

  1. Mustard + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together901 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Egg yolks
Lecithin in the yolks helps hold the oil and vinegar together as a stable emulsion.
Salad oil
Forms the fat phase that gives the sauce its rich body and thickness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the richness of the oil.
Mustard
Its natural emulsifiers help keep the oil dispersed and the sauce from separating.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, mellowing the sauce and adding richness.
Gelatine
Sets and firms the custard variation as it cools.

The step that matters

Adding the oil. Oil must be added slowly while whisking so it breaks into tiny droplets that the yolk can coat. Adding it too fast can overwhelm the yolk, and the emulsion will split into a greasy, separated sauce.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, vinegar, cream, tarragon, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, vinegar, cream, tarragon, milk. 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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