Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Anchovy Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, blend the butter and flour together.
Add the broth or water and set over medium heat.
Cook until the mixture thickens.
Finish and serve
Stir in the Anchovy Extract or paste, and season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Remove from heat and mix in the beaten egg yolk before serving.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,330 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Anchovy + peppertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,232 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and carries flavour, with flour helping form its base.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and broth mixture as it cooks.
- Broth or water
- Forms the liquid base that thickens into the sauce.
- Anchovy extract or paste
- Adds savoury, salty depth that defines the sauce's flavour.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and body to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Mix in the egg yolk off the heat. Egg yolk thickens and enriches when gently warmed, but at high heat it can scramble into lumps. Removing the pan from the heat before adding it lets the yolk blend smoothly into the sauce.
“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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