Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Fish Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
Pound the salmon and pass it through a sieve.
Add the bread crumbs, pounded mace, and beaten eggs to the salmon and mix to a smooth paste.
Butter a soufflé pan and pour in the mixture.
Cover the top with buttered paper and steam for 40 minutes.
Serve immediately with Bechamel sauce flavored with anchovy.
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.
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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,260 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
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Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,330 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, anchovy, sauce, butter):
- Capersfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, anchovy, sauce, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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