Why it works: Anchovy and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,330 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Anchovy Toast
Ingredients
Directions
Make the anchovy sauce
Melt the butter on a hot plate.
Add the anchovy paste and raw egg yolks.
Mix well and quickly with a knife.
Toast and serve
Soak small squares of toast in the mixture.
Serve hot.
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.
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Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,330 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Provides richness and a smooth fat base that carries the anchovy flavour.
- Anchovy paste or sauce
- Adds a salty, savoury depth that gives the toast its distinctive aroma.
- Raw egg yolks
- Emulsify into the warm butter and thicken it into a creamy, spreadable mixture.
The step that matters
Mix well and quickly with a knife.. Raw yolks can scramble when they meet hot butter. Fast, constant stirring spreads the yolks through the fat so they emulsify into a smooth, creamy mixture instead of curdling.
“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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