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Betterave a I’Orientale.

A beetroot salad with anchovy fillets, capers, gherkins, chives, anchovy paste, chilli vinegar, and cayenne, served on crostini.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Beetroot and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 231 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Betterave a I’Orientale.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the beetroot into 1/8-inch thick slices.

  2. Slice the brown bread into 1/8-inch thick slices.

  3. Cut out small rounds from the bread slices using a fancy cutter.

Assemble the crostini

  1. Place a layer of anchovy fillets on each round.

  2. In a bowl, mix capers, gherkins, chives, anchovy paste, and a few drops of chilli vinegar.

  3. Spread this mixture over the rounds.

  4. Slice the hard-boiled egg thinly and place one slice on each round.

  5. Sprinkle cayenne and coarse sea salt over the surface.

  6. Garnish with parsley and serve.

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. Beetroot + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together231 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Capers + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Beetroot + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together172 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Capers + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,550 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Chive + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Anchovy fillets
Provide a salty, savoury flavour that forms the base of the topping.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny bite that cuts through the richness of the anchovy.
Gherkins
Contribute acidity and crunch to the chopped topping mixture.
Hard-boiled egg
Adds creamy, mild richness that softens the sharper, salty flavours.
Brown bread
Gives a sturdy, toasted-style base that holds the topping without going soggy.
Beetroot
Adds earthy sweetness and colour to the dish.

Swap the beetroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, anchovy, capers, chive, vinegar, bread, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Lettucefits about as well
  4. Beetrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, anchovy, capers, chive, vinegar, bread, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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