Skip to main content
Dessert

Anchovy Aigrettes

Anchovy Aigrettes are small fried anchovy fritters coated in batter, seasoned with white sauce, Parmesan, anchovy essence, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sauce and anchovy 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 ↓

Anchovy Aigrettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the anchovies. Remove the bones from the anchovies.

  2. Mix the anchovies with the thick white sauce, Parmesan cheese, essence of anchovy, and cayenne.

  3. Prepare the frying batter (see Batter for Frying).

Fry

  1. Heat the frying fat in a pan.

  2. Shape the anchovy mixture into small fritters and coat with the frying batter.

  3. Fry until golden brown and crispy.

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. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Parmesan cheese + anchovytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Sauce + parmesan cheesetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

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

What each ingredient does

Anchovies
Provide the main savoury, salty flavour and the body of the fritter filling.
Thick white sauce
Binds the anchovies into a mixture that holds its shape when formed into fritters.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury depth and helps the outside brown during frying.
Frying batter
Forms a crisp golden coating that protects the filling as it fries.

The step that matters

Shape and coat the fritters before frying. The mixture is soft, so it must be formed and fully coated in batter before frying; a loose or under-coated fritter can break apart or absorb fat. Fat must be hot enough to crisp the batter quickly rather than soak in.

“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.

You might also like

Cheese BallsCheese Balls97 recipesCheese CakeCheese Cake55 recipesCream CheeseCream Cheese46 recipesLemon PieLemon Pie37 recipes