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Quintessence of Anchovy

A sauce made by pounding anchovies into a pulp and simmering with water or vinegar and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Quintessence of Anchovy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the anchovies in a mortar until they form a pulp.

  2. Transfer the pulp to a clean saucepan.

  3. Add the cold spring water or vinegar to the mortar, shake, and pour it into the saucepan.

Cook and strain

  1. Place the saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until melted, about 5 minutes.

  2. Stir in the cayenne pepper and let it warm for a few more minutes.

  3. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve using the back of a wooden spoon.

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.

  1. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Anchovies
Provide the main savoury, salty flavour and break down into the smooth paste.
Cold spring water or vinegar
Loosens the pounded anchovies so they blend and melt into a smooth, pourable mixture.

The step that matters

Melting over low heat with frequent stirring. Anchovies scorch easily over direct heat, which turns the paste bitter and dark. Low heat and constant stirring melt them gently and keep the flavour clean and 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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