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Eggs and Anchovies in Savoury Jelly

A dish of poached eggs and shredded anchovies set in savory jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Eggs and Anchovies in Savoury Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the bones from the anchovies.

  2. Cut the anchovies into shreds.

  3. Lay the shredded anchovies on a plate.

  4. Poach the eggs in vinegar and water.

  5. Transfer the poached eggs to cold water.

Set the jelly

  1. Place a little savory jelly at the bottom of a plain mold.

  2. Let the jelly set.

  3. Neatly arrange the anchovies on the set jelly.

  4. Trim the eggs.

  5. Carefully place the trimmed eggs on top of the anchovies.

  6. Gently pour a little nearly cold jelly over the eggs and anchovies until they are well covered.

  7. Fill the mold completely.

  8. Keep the mold in ice until ready to serve.

  9. Turn out the jelly like any other jelly.

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. Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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

Anchovies
Provide a salty, savory flavor that contrasts with the sweet-mild egg and jelly.
Eggs
Provide the set, tender centerpiece of the mold, visible when the jelly is turned out.
Vinegar
Acidifies the poaching liquid, helping the egg whites set more neatly around the yolks.
Savory jelly
Forms the clear, firm body that holds the anchovies and eggs together when unmolded.

The step that matters

Pour the nearly cold jelly gently over the eggs and anchovies. If the jelly is too warm, it can cook the egg surfaces or disturb the arranged anchovies; if it is too cold, it sets before it covers them. Pouring gently keeps the arrangement intact.

“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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