Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mayonnaise Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the emulsion
Beat the egg yolks, mustard, sugar, cayenne pepper, and salt in a bowl until very light and thick, using a silver or wooden spoon or a Dover beater.
Place the bowl in a pan of ice water while continuing to beat.
Slowly add a few drops of oil at a time until the mixture becomes very thick.
Once thick, add the oil more rapidly.
When the mixture is so thick that the beater turns hard, add a little vinegar.
After adding all the oil and vinegar, the dressing should be very thick.
Finish and chill
Stir in the lemon juice and whipped cream.
Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,816 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
- Egg yolks
- Emulsifiers that hold the oil and vinegar together as a thick, stable dressing.
- Oil
- Provides the fat that gives the dressing its body and richness.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps balance the richness of the oil.
- Whipped cream
- Lightens the texture and adds softness to the finished dressing.
- Mustard
- Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds sharp flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the oil. Oil must go in slowly at first, a few drops at a time, so the egg yolks can emulsify it. Adding it too fast breaks the emulsion, leaving a thin, separated dressing.
“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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