Name: Montpelier Butter
Ingredients: 1 husk of garlic, well picked; 4 heaping tablespoons fine capers; 5 or 6 anchovies, washed and picked; 8 egg yolks; 1 tablespoon chopped spinach; 2 pinches coarse sea salt; 1 pinch black pepper; 1½ to 2 pounds olive oil; Juice of 1 lemon or a little white vinegar

Why it works: Garlic and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,435 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Montpelier Butter

Ingredients

1 husk of garlic, well picked
4 heaping tablespoons fine capers
5 or 6 anchovies, washed and picked
8 egg yolks
1 tablespoon chopped spinach
2 pinches coarse sea salt
1 pinch black pepper
1½ to 2 pounds olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon or a little white vinegar

Directions

In a stone mortar, combine garlic, capers, anchovies, egg yolks, spinach, salt, and pepper, then mash and bruise the mixture together.
Gradually add olive oil while continuing to grind until it forms a paste similar to fresh butter.
Squeeze in lemon juice or vinegar as needed.
Strain the mixture through a silk or fine cloth strainer using 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.

Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,435 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Capers + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together99 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Capers + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,688 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks: Emulsify the oil into a thick, spreadable paste that holds together like butter.
Olive oil: Forms the bulk of the paste, giving it richness and a butter-like body as it is ground in.
Capers: Add briny, sharp acidity that cuts through the richness of the oil and yolks.
Anchovies: Contribute deep savoury saltiness and umami that rounds out the sauce.
Lemon juice or vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the paste and balances the oil.

The step that matters

Adding the olive oil. Oil must be added gradually while grinding so the yolks can emulsify it. Adding it too fast can cause the mixture to split and fail to thicken into a paste.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (capers, egg, spinach, pepper, olive, lemon):

Parsleyfits better
Tarragonfits better
Dillfits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against capers, egg, spinach, pepper, olive, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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Lemon Ice147 recipes

Lemon Sherbet103 recipes

Lemon Custard64 recipes

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Montpelier Butter