Why it works: Tarragon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,691 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Bearnaise Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a double boiler, beat the egg yolks until smooth.
Add the salad oil and hot water, and cook until the mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and stir in salt, vinegar, and paprika or cayenne.
Butter variation
For a butter version, use 3 tablespoons of creamed butter instead of oil and omit the hot water.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Tarragon + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,691 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Tarragon + vinegartop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,299 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + peppertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Egg + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together118,511 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Butter + tarragontop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,193 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify and thicken the sauce as they cook, giving it a rich, smooth body.
- Salad oil
- Provides fat that, emulsified with the yolks, gives the sauce its creamy texture.
- Tarragon vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich yolk and fat flavors.
The step that matters
Cooking the yolks until thickened. Egg yolks thicken from gentle heat; if the double boiler is too hot they can scramble and curdle, so heat should stay moderate and the mixture should be stirred constantly.
Flavor stand-ins for the tarragon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, vinegar, pepper):
- Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit
- Tarragonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, vinegar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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