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Ramcquins with Anchovy

A small cheese pastry flavored with anchovy, simmered with wine and flour, then baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ramcquins with Anchovy

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the paste

  1. Combine the cheese, butter, anchovy, and white wine in a stewpan.

  2. Simmer while stirring in flour until a paste forms.

  3. Transfer the paste to a pan.

  4. Mix in beaten eggs until it thickens but remains pliable.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the mixture into small egg forms.

  2. Brush the shaped forms with egg.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes until golden brown.

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. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  2. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Cheese + white winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together345 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Grated cheese
Provides rich flavor and melts to bind the paste.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender, rich texture.
Flour
Thickens the mixture into a paste that holds its shape.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set on heating, giving structure and helping browning.
Anchovy
Adds a savory, salty depth of flavor.

The step that matters

Mixing in the beaten eggs. Eggs must be added gradually to a warm paste so they blend smoothly without scrambling. Once the mixture thickens but stays pliable, it holds its shape better during baking.

“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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