Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Anchovy Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the anchovies in the water for about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and strain the mixture.
When the liquid is cold, mix it with the flour and butter.
Stir over low heat until it just comes to a boil.
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.
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Infuse the water with a salty, savoury flavour that becomes the base of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the strained liquid into a smooth sauce as it heats.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky texture to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Stir over low heat until it just comes to a boil. Flour thickens the liquid as it heats, but high heat or overheating can cause lumps or a grainy texture. Stirring keeps the flour and butter evenly dispersed as the sauce thickens.
“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.
More anchovy sauce recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.