Why it works: Anchovy and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,697 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Glazed Tongue
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and boil
Soak the tongue in cold water for 2 to 3 hours.
Boil the tongue according to its size, allowing 25 minutes for each pound.
Finish and serve
Once cooked, remove the skin and let it cool.
Brush the tongue with the glaze and decorate with the anchovy butter and aspic jelly.
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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Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 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
- Ox tongue
- Main meat; long gentle simmering softens its connective tissue into a tender texture.
- Anchovy butter
- Adds fat and savoury, salty flavour to the decoration.
- Aspic jelly
- Sets into a clear, glossy layer that holds the decorations in place.
The step that matters
Boiling for the full time. Connective tissue in tongue breaks down slowly in simmering liquid. Cooking for less than the time allowed per pound leaves the meat firm and tough, so the full timing matters.
“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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