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Anchovy Toast

Anchovy toast consists of toasted bread topped with anchovy paste, a poached egg, and a rich tomato or Hollandaise sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Colville, Jessie Henderson. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Anchovy Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the toast

  1. Cut rounds of fresh bread about one inch thick with a large biscuit cutter.

  2. Toast the bread lightly brown.

  3. Spread anchovy paste on each toast.

  4. Poach an egg until soft.

  5. Place the poached egg on each toast.

  6. Sprinkle each toast with salt and pepper.

  7. Cover each toast with a rich tomato sauce or a hot Hollandaise sauce.

Make the chicken and mushroom filling

  1. Boil a chicken until tender.

  2. Let the chicken stand until very cold.

  3. Separate the meat from the bones and cut into squares.

  4. Peel and wash fresh mushrooms.

  5. Saute the mushrooms in butter until tender.

Make the cream sauce

  1. Beat the yolks of four eggs and add to two cupfuls of cream.

  2. In a double boiler melt butter, add flour, stir until smooth, add cream, and bring to a boil, watching not to curdle.

  3. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, and plenty of paprika.

  4. Pour the sauce over the chicken, mushrooms, and cut-up peppers.

  5. Return the sauce to the fire and heat for about three minutes.

  6. Optionally add sherry or Madeira wine to the sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

857Calories
51 gProtein
27 gFat
98 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chicken100g cooked165
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Colville, Jessie Henderson. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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
Yolks thicken the cream sauce and the poached egg adds a soft, rich topping.
Flour
Starch in the butter roux thickens the cream sauce to a smooth consistency.
Butter
Fat that forms the roux and adds richness to the sauce and mushrooms.
Cream
Provides the base of the sauce, adding richness and a smooth, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Bringing the cream sauce to a boil. Egg yolks in the cream can curdle if the sauce overheats or boils too hard. Stirring constantly over gentle heat keeps the sauce smooth.

“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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