Why it works: Chervil and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Anchovy Canapees, Princesse Style
Ingredients
Directions
Cut anchovy fillets into small strips.
Finely chop hard-boiled eggs, chervil, tarragon, and chives.
Cut bread into round shapes using a tin cutter.
Fry the bread slices in clarified butter until light in color.
In a bowl, mix chopped eggs and herbs with tartare sauce, lemon juice, pepper, and salt.
Spread the mixture on the croutons and arrange anchovy fillets on top in a lattice pattern.
Garnish with parsley and serve on a folded napkin.
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.
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Chervil + tarragontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together824 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together370 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tarragon + chivetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together589 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tarragon + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,137 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Chervil + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together358 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, chervil, tarragon, chive, bread, butter, sauce):
- Lemonthe original
- Avocadofits about as well
- Limefits less well
- Cherryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, chervil, tarragon, chive, bread, butter, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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