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Mixed Canape

A chilled canapé with caviar, olives, pimentos, and a savory sauce, served on toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 104 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mixed Canape

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine caviar, grated onion, chopped olives, chopped pimentos, lemon juice, bouillon, and salt in a bowl.

  2. Dissolve gelatin in a little water and add to the mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into a shallow pan.

  4. Once set, cut into circular pieces with a small biscuit cutter.

Dress and assemble

  1. In another bowl, mix olive oil, salt, paprika, horseradish, Tabasco, chopped egg yolk, and tarragon vinegar until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture over the canapés.

  3. Top each canapé with an anchovy.

  4. Spread the toasted and buttered bread with caviar.

  5. Add a spoonful of cold slaw mixed with mayonnaise to each canapé.

  6. Garnish with a shred of pimento and a few chopped truffles.

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. Gelatin + saucetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together104 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Onion + horseradishtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Lemon + horseradishtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the mixture so it can be cut into firm, stable pieces.
Caviar
Provides the main salty, briny flavour and the spread's character.
Olive oil
Adds fat and smoothness to the seasoned dressing.
Hard-boiled egg yolk
Adds richness and body to the dressing.
Lemon juice
Brightens the mixture with acidity that balances the rich ingredients.
Bread
Forms the crisp, buttered base that holds the topping.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatin fully before adding it. Gelatin only sets properly when fully dissolved in warm liquid. Undissolved granules leave gritty specks and uneven patches, and the pieces may not hold their shape when cut.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (caviar, olive, lemon, gelatin, horseradish, sauce, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against caviar, olive, lemon, gelatin, horseradish, sauce, egg. 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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