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Anchovy Toast

A toast topped with a mixture of anchovies, butter, and optional spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Anchovy Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the anchovies

  1. Bone and wash the anchovies.

  2. Pound the anchovies in a mortar with a little fresh butter.

  3. Rub the mixture through a sieve.

Assemble the toast

  1. Spread the anchovy mixture on a piece of toast.

  2. For extra flavor, add mild mustard, curry powder, or a few grains of Cayenne while pounding the anchovies.

  3. Toast the bread in clarified butter for a richer taste.

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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  4. Butter + macetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Butter + mustardtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,003 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Anchovies
Provide the main salty, savory flavor and the bulk of the spread.
Fresh butter
Binds the pounded anchovies into a smooth spread and adds richness.
Clarified butter
Fries the bread with a richer, nuttier flavor and promotes browning.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture through a sieve. Pushing the pounded anchovies through a sieve breaks down remaining fibers and lumps, giving a smooth, even spread. Skipping it leaves a coarse texture that spreads unevenly on the toast.

Swap the mustard

The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, mace):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, mace. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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