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Scrambled Eggs with Anchovies or Sardines

Scrambled eggs cooked with anchovies or sardines, butter, and a liquid such as water, milk, or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Scrambled Eggs with Anchovies or Sardines

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain the anchovies or sardines and remove skin, scales, and bones.

  2. Pick the fillets into small pieces.

  3. If using salted anchovies, soak them in milk or water for 6 hours or more.

Cook

  1. Beat the eggs slightly and add salt, pepper, and water, milk, or cream.

  2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  3. Add the fish pieces and shake the skillet briefly.

  4. Pour in the egg mixture and cook, stirring gently, until scrambled.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into soft curds that form the body of the dish.
Anchovies or sardines
Add a salty, savory fish flavor that runs through the eggs.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and helps keep the eggs tender and glossy.
Water, milk, or cream
Adds moisture so the scrambled eggs stay soft rather than dry.

The step that matters

Cook the eggs gently, stirring over medium heat. Egg proteins set quickly and squeeze out water when overheated, leaving dry, rubbery curds. Gentle heat and steady stirring keep the curds soft and moist.

“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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