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Savory Toast

A toasted bread spread with melted cheese, anchovy sauce, mustard, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Savory Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.

  2. Add mustard, vinegar, anchovy sauce, pepper, cayenne, and cheese.

  3. Stir until the cheese is fully melted and the mixture is smooth.

Serve

  1. Spread the mixture on toasted bread and serve immediately.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Mustard + walnuttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together849 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Melts to create a smooth, rich base that carries the other flavours.
Cheese
Melts into the sauce to give it body, richness and a savoury flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness of the butter and cheese.
Anchovy sauce
Adds a deep, salty, savoury umami note to the mixture.
Mustard
Contributes sharpness and pungency that complements the cheese.

The step that matters

Stir until the cheese is fully melted and the mixture is smooth. Cheese proteins can tighten and turn grainy or oily if overheated or left unstirred, so low heat and constant stirring keep the sauce emulsified and smooth.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mustard, vinegar, anchovy, sauce, pepper, cheese):

  1. Beansfits about as well
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Sesamefits about as well
  4. Chestnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mustard, vinegar, anchovy, sauce, pepper, cheese. 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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