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Anchovy-fritters

Anchovy fritters are small fried anchovy pieces coated in frying paste, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,477 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Anchovy-fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the anchovies

  1. Clean the anchovies and steep them in vinegar.

  2. Wipe the anchovies with a cloth and remove the fillets.

  3. Place the fillets on a plate.

  4. Baste the fillets with oil.

  5. Sprinkle the fillets with chopped parsley.

  6. Roll the fillets.

Fry and serve

  1. Dip the rolled fillets in frying paste.

  2. Fry the fillets in hot hog's lard.

  3. Once the fritters are dry and golden, drain them.

  4. Serve the fritters on a napkin with fried parsley.

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. Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Salted anchovies
Provide the main savory, salty fish flavour and the fillets that are rolled and fried.
Frying paste
Coats the rolled fillets and forms a crisp golden shell when fried.
Hog's lard
Conducts heat for frying and gives the coating a golden, crisp browning.
Vinegar
Steeping in vinegar draws out salt and firms the anchovy flesh.

The step that matters

Fry the fillets in hot hog's lard. If the fat is not hot enough, the paste absorbs oil and turns greasy and soggy instead of crisping. Hot fat sets the coating quickly, so the fritters brown and stay dry inside the crust.

“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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