Name: Croutons d'Anchois Au Fromage
Ingredients: 6 filleted anchovies; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 teaspoon curry powder; 3 egg yolks; 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese; 6 slices of bread, about ½ inch thick; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; additional grated Parmesan cheese for sprinkling; fried or fresh parsley for garnish

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Croutons d'Anchois Au Fromage

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

6 filleted anchovies
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon curry powder
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
6 slices of bread, about ½ inch thick
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
additional grated Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
fried or fresh parsley for garnish

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the anchovy mixture

Pound the anchovies with the butter in a mortar.
Add the curry powder, egg yolks, and grated Parmesan cheese; warm the mixture in a saucepan.

Assemble and bake

Prepare the bread by toasting it and splitting it open like a muffin.
Spread the anchovy mixture thickly on the cut side of the toast.
Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese and season with cayenne pepper.
Press two slices together, cut them into fingers, and place them in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for a few minutes.
Dish up in a lattice-work fashion, garnish with parsley, and 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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Anchovies: Provide the salty, savoury flavour that defines the spread.
Egg yolks: Bind the spread and give it a rich, smooth, custard-like body when warmed.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and helping the spread feel smooth.
Parmesan cheese: Adds salty, savoury depth and helps the mixture firm and brown in the oven.
Bread: Serves as the crisp base that holds the spread.

The step that matters

Warming the anchovy mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can scramble if the mixture gets too hot. Warm it gently and keep stirring so it becomes smooth and spreadable rather than curdled.

“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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Croutons d'Anchois Au Fromage