Name: Mozzarella in Carrozza with Anchovy Sauce
Yield: Makes 12 (antipasto) servings
Ingredients: 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces; 4 flat anchovy fillets, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons drained capers, coarsely chopped; 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice; 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley; 1 (1-pound) Italian loaf such as pane di casa (5 inches wide); 1 (1-pound) ball salted fresh mozzarella, cut into 6 (1/4-inch-thick) slices; 1 cup plus 3 tablespoon whole milk, divided; 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs; 4 large eggs; About 3 cups olive or vegetable oil

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Capers + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,550 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Capers + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,222 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

Swap the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, anchovy, lemon, parsley, milk, bread, egg):

Capersthe original
Thymefits about as well
Nutmegfits about as well
Marjoramfits about as well

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Anchovy	100g	210
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Mozzarella Cheese	1 oz (28g)	85
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Capers	1 tbsp (9g) drained	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

Mozzarella in Carrozza with Anchovy Sauce