Why it works: Cream and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 41,494 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Scotch Woodcock
Ingredients
Directions
Make the topping
Mix cream, butter, anchovy paste, egg yolks, and egg whites in a bowl.
Add red and black pepper to taste and ensure the paste is dissolved.
Place the mixture in a saucepan over medium heat and stir continuously until it thickens.
Serve
Serve immediately on hot buttered toast.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Anchovy + eggtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,268 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Anchovy + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,672 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + walnuttop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,819 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Pepper + walnuttop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,035 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the mixture as they cook, giving it a rich, custard-like body.
- Egg whites
- Add lightness and help the mixture set as it is heated.
- Cream
- Provides moisture and richness, softening the savoury flavour of the anchovy.
- Anchovy paste
- Supplies the salty, savoury flavour that defines the dish.
The step that matters
Stirring over medium heat. Egg proteins can scramble if heated too fast or left unstirred. Constant stirring over moderate heat lets the yolks and whites thicken smoothly into a sauce.
“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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