Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Anchovy Toast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the anchovy paste
Wipe and drain the anchovies, split them open, and remove the spines.
Pass the anchovies through a fine sieve into a bowl.
Stir in the egg yolks until well combined.
Toast and serve
Fry the bread slices in butter until golden brown.
Spread the anchovy mixture on the hot toast and serve immediately.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Anchovies
- Provide the salty, savoury flavour that defines the topping.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the sieved anchovies into a smooth, spreadable mixture with richness.
- Bread
- Forms a crisp, golden base that holds the topping.
- Butter
- Fries the bread, adding fat for browning and a rich aroma.
The step that matters
Pass the anchovies through a fine sieve. Sieving breaks the anchovy flesh into a fine, smooth paste. Coarse pieces would make the topping gritty and uneven when combined with the yolks.
“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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