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Sardine Toast

A toasted bread topped with a spicy sardine paste.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Sardine Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the toast

  1. Cut 6 small round pieces of bread rather thin.

  2. Toast and butter or fry them in a little hot butter until golden on both sides.

Make the sardine topping

  1. Skin and bone the sardines, then mix them into a paste with butter, cayenne, and half of the anchovy sauce.

  2. In a small saucepan, combine flour, water, and milk; stir over heat until thick.

  3. Add the sardine paste to the thick mixture and stir until hot.

Serve

  1. Spread the sardine mixture on the hot toast and sprinkle with the remaining anchovy sauce.

  2. Serve very hot.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Anchovy + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (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 fish flavour and the body of the savoury topping.
Flour
Thickens the water and milk into a smooth, spreadable base.
Anchovy sauce
Adds salty, savoury depth, with some added at the end for finish.
Bread
Provides a crisp, golden base that holds the warm topping.
Milk
Adds richness and softness to the thickened base.

The step that matters

Stir the flour mixture until thick. Flour must be stirred over heat so its starch swells and thickens the liquid; if it is not cooked through and smooth, the topping stays thin or tastes raw.

“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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