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Herring Roe Croutes

A dish of herring roe served on buttered toast with anchovy paste, lemon, cayenne, and fried parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Herring Roe Croutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the toast

  1. Cut the toast into round or oval-shaped pieces.

  2. Butter the toast liberally.

  3. Spread the toast lightly with anchovy paste.

Cook the roes

  1. Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan.

  2. Gently toss the roes in the melted butter over medium heat until lightly browned.

Assemble and serve

  1. Place the roes on the prepared toast, sprinkle with lemon juice and cayenne.

  2. Garnish with slices of lemon and crispy fried parsley.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Roe + anchovytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together65 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Anchovy + parsleytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,702 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Roe + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together442 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Herring roes
Provide the rich, delicate main body of the dish, browning lightly in butter for savory flavor.
Anchovy paste
Adds a salty, savory depth that complements the roes on the toast.
Toast
Gives a crisp, absorbent base that holds the roes and butter.
Butter
Carries flavor and promotes gentle browning of the roes in the pan.
Lemons
Add acidity that brightens the rich roes and butter.

The step that matters

Toss the roes over medium heat until lightly browned. Soft roes are delicate and can overcook, turning firm and dry. Gentle heat in butter sets the outside and browns it lightly while the inside stays tender 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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