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Sardine Toast

A toast topped with a warm sardine mixture made with butter, milk, egg yolks, anchovy essence, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Sardine Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sardines

  1. Remove the skin and bones from the sardines. Chop the sardines coarsely.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, heat the milk and butter until hot.

  2. Add the chopped sardines, essence of anchovy, and a little cayenne pepper.

  3. Stir over low heat until the egg yolks thicken, but do not let it boil.

Serve

  1. Prepare well-buttered squares of toast.

  2. Pour the sardine mixture over the toast.

  3. Serve immediately.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Anchovy + peppertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Sardines
Provide the main savory fish flavor and the body of the topping.
Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture into a creamy, spreadable sauce when gently heated.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
Milk
Dilutes the yolks and butter, keeping the sauce smooth and pourable.
Essence of anchovy
Intensifies the salty, savory depth of the fish flavor.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat until the egg yolks thicken. Egg yolks set at gentle temperatures, and boiling makes them curdle and turn grainy. Low heat and constant stirring give a smooth, thickened sauce.

“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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