Name: Anchovy Salad
Ingredients: 6 anchovies; 6 eggs; Parsley; 2 tablespoons oil; 1 tablespoon vinegar; Seasonings to taste

Why it works: Parsley and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,477 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Anchovy Salad

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the anchovies

Soak the anchovies overnight in cold water.
Remove the scales and bones, then cut them into thin pieces.

Prepare the eggs

Boil the eggs hard, cool them, and remove the shells.
Cut three eggs into quarters for garnish and chop the remaining two, keeping the whites and yolks separate.

Assemble and serve

Layer the anchovy fillets, chopped eggs, and parsley on a salad dish.
Dress with oil and vinegar, then serve.

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.

Parsley + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,477 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,922 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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

Anchovies: Provide the salty, savory flavor that defines the salad.
Eggs: Add richness and body through the chopped whites and yolks, with quartered eggs as garnish.
Oil: Adds fat and mouthfeel to the dressing and carries flavor across the salad.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the salty anchovies and rich eggs.