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Salad

Anchovy Butter Dressing

A dressing made with anchovy butter, green onion, oil, and vinegar, mixed until smooth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,697 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Anchovy Butter Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine the anchovy butter and chopped green onion (or chives).

  2. Add the oil and vinegar.

  3. Mix well until smooth, similar to mayonnaise.

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. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Anchovy + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Anchovy + vinegartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,008 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Anchovy butter
Provides concentrated savory, salty flavor that forms the dressing's base.
Oil
Adds fat and body, giving the dressing a smooth, creamy texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and oil.
Green onion
Adds fresh, mild onion flavor and visible flecks of green.

The step that matters

Mix well until smooth. Oil and vinegar must be fully emulsified into the butter base. Thorough mixing breaks the oil into tiny droplets held in suspension, so the dressing stays smooth and does not separate.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (anchovy, butter, vinegar):

  1. Onionthe original
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against anchovy, butter, vinegar. 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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