Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Scotch Woodcock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the toast
Wash, scrape, and chop the anchovies very finely.
Toast the bread and butter it while hot.
Spread the chopped anchovies on the buttered bread.
Make the sauce and serve
In a saucepan, combine the cream and egg yolks, and stir over low heat until thickened, without boiling.
Pour the sauce over the toast and serve hot.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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, savoury flavour that is the core of the toast.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body to the sauce, carrying its smooth texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream as they set gently over low heat, giving the sauce its body.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the toast and helps the anchovies adhere.
The step that matters
Stir the cream and egg yolks over low heat without boiling. Egg yolks set through gentle heat. If the mixture boils, the proteins tighten and curdle, leaving a grainy sauce instead of a smooth, thickened one.
“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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