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Soft Roe a LA Soyer

A buttered toast topped with roe, mushroom, butter, cayenne pepper, grated cheese, and breadcrumbs, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Soft Roe a LA Soyer

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place half of the roe on top of a piece of buttered toast.

  2. Put a peeled mushroom on top, then add salt and pepper to taste and a small piece of butter.

  3. Add the other half of the roe on top of the mushroom.

  4. Sprinkle with a little cayenne pepper, a pinch of grated cheese, and a few breadcrumbs.

  5. Top with another small piece of butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Place in a paper bag, seal it, and place on a grid.

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for ten minutes.

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. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Mushroom + cheesetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Roe + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together442 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Roe
Forms the rich, soft center of the toast and adds savory flavor and moisture.
Buttered toast
Provides a crisp base that holds the topping and soaks up melted butter.
Mushroom
Adds earthy flavor and moisture that steams under the topping as it bakes.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on the surface, adding savory flavor and golden color.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb fat and moisture and crisp up to form a golden, crunchy top.

The step that matters

Place in a paper bag, seal it, and place on a grid.. Sealing the toast in a paper bag traps steam so the roe and mushroom cook gently and stay moist, while the surface still has room to brown.

“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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