Why it works: Egg and anchovy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,330 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Cottage Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Drain the corn well and pound it finely, moistening gradually with the eggs.
Season highly with cayenne or paprika and add anchovy essence to taste.
Shape and fry
Form the mixture into quenelles using two spoons.
Roll the quenelles lightly in seasoned flour.
Fry in hot fat or oil until nicely browned.
Drain well and serve at once.
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.
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Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,330 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Anchovy + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,753 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,484 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Green corn
- Forms the bulk of the fritter, giving it its sweet flavour and tender body.
- Eggs
- Bind the pounded corn together and add moisture, helping the quenelles hold their shape.
- Seasoned flour
- Forms a thin dry coating that helps the outside brown and crisp during frying.
The step that matters
Frying in hot fat or oil. The fat must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly. If it is too cool, the fritters absorb oil and turn greasy before they set and colour.
“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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