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Eggs and Anchovy

Eggs poached and served on toast with anchovy butter, cayenne pepper, and Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Eggs and Anchovy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Butter the toast with Anchovy Butter.

  2. Poach the eggs.

Assemble and serve

  1. Place one poached egg on each piece of toast.

  2. Sprinkle a little cayenne pepper and grated Parmesan cheese on each egg.

  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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Anchovy + parmesan cheesetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together165 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a soft, creamy topping that forms the centre of the dish.
Anchovy butter
Adds fat and salty, savoury flavour that soaks into the toast.
Grated parmesan cheese
Adds savoury, salty flavour and browning on the warm egg.
Toast
Provides a crisp base that holds the egg and absorbs the butter.

The step that matters

Poach the eggs. Eggs cook through quickly in simmering water, and overcooking turns the yolk firm and chalky. Serve them soon after poaching, because a held egg keeps cooking and loses its runny yolk.

“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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