Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Mayonnaise
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Add the cream, salt, sugar, flour, and mustard; mix well.
Stir the mixture into 1 cup of boiling vinegar.
Continue stirring until it begins to thicken, then remove from heat immediately.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Provide the protein that emulsifies and thickens the sauce as it cooks.
- Flour
- Stabilizes the thickened mixture so it holds its body and resists breaking.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a softer, smoother texture to the finished sauce.
- Mustard
- Adds sharpness and helps stabilize the emulsion.
The step that matters
Removing from heat as it begins to thicken. Egg proteins set quickly once hot enough, so overheating causes curdling or scrambling. Stopping at the first sign of thickening keeps the sauce smooth.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, flour, milk, cream, sugar, vinegar):
- Potatofits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, flour, milk, cream, sugar, 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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