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Devilled Sardines

Sardines are seasoned with mustard and cayenne pepper, broiled in butter, and served on buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Devilled Sardines

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain and wipe the sardines.

  2. Sprinkle sardines with mustard and cayenne pepper.

Cook and serve

  1. Broil sardines in a little butter on both sides.

  2. Serve sardines on fingers of buttered toast.

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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + buttertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,003 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Sardines
Provide the main protein and rich, oily flavour that carries the dish.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavour that cuts through the richness of the oily fish.
Cayenne pepper
Adds gentle heat that gives the sardines a spicy, savoury bite.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the sardines brown and gives a rich, savoury flavour under the broiler.
Buttered toast
Gives a crisp, absorbent base that holds the sardines and soaks up their juices.

The step that matters

Broil sardines on both sides. Sardines are thin and cook quickly, so they can dry out or burn under high heat. Turning them once and using a little butter helps them brown evenly while staying moist inside.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter. 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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