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Tarragon Mustard

A mustard condiment made with tarragon leaves, vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, and salad oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and mustard 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 ↓

Tarragon Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse the vinegar

  1. Remove the tarragon from the jar and add an equal quantity of fresh tarragon leaves.

  2. Pour the vinegar back into the jar and cork it again.

  3. After two weeks, strain the vinegar from the leaves.

Make the mustard

  1. Mince the garlic as finely as possible.

  2. In a deep white pan, mix the minced garlic with the mustard powder.

  3. In a mug, combine the strained tarragon vinegar and salad oil.

  4. Gradually moisten the mustard powder with the vinegar and oil mixture until it reaches a slightly thicker consistency than regular mustard.

  5. Transfer the mustard into small clean jars and cork them tightly.

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. Tarragon + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together901 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Tarragon + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together548 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mustard powder
Forms the bulk of the mustard and provides its sharp, pungent flavour.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity and the distinctive aroma of tarragon, and moistens the powder.
Salad oil
Adds fat, giving the mustard a smoother, less harsh texture.
Garlic
Adds a savoury aroma that complements the mustard and tarragon.

The step that matters

Moistening the mustard powder. Adding the vinegar and oil mixture gradually lets the powder absorb liquid evenly and avoids lumps. Stop once the consistency is slightly thicker than regular mustard, since the mustard thickens further as it rests.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tarragon, vinegar, garlic, mustard. 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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