Why it works: Anchovy and egg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,268 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Cover toasted rounds of bread with foie gras or anchovy paste.
Place a poached egg on top of each.
Pour cream sauce over the eggs 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.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Anchovy + eggtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,268 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,048 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Bread + anchovytop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,257 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
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Bread + eggtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together22,584 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + saucetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,786 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
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