Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Mayonnaise, a Sauce or Salad-Dressing for Cold Chicken, Meat, and Other Cold Dishes
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and mustard together until smooth.
Slowly drizzle in the vegetable oil while continuously whisking until the mixture thickens.
Add vinegar or lemon juice and salt, whisking until well combined.
Adjust seasoning to taste.
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 + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,210 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 emulsifies the oil and water, holding the sauce together.
- Mustard
- Helps stabilise the emulsion so the oil stays suspended in the sauce.
- Vegetable oil
- Forms the bulk of the sauce, giving it its rich, thick body and fat content.
- Vinegar or lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Drizzling the oil slowly while whisking. Oil must be added in a thin, slow stream so droplets are fully dispersed and coated by yolk proteins. Adding it too fast breaks the emulsion, leaving the sauce oily and runny instead of thick.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar):
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar. 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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