Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Anchovy Toast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut stale bread into ⅓ inch thick slices.
Use a cutter to stamp out rounds 1½ inches in diameter.
Fry and finish
Fry the rounds in butter until golden brown.
Spread each round with anchovy paste.
Sprinkle a few grains of cayenne on top.
Serve hot, garnished with parsley or watercress.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,260 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
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Butter + anchovytop 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
- Stale bread
- Provides the sturdy base that holds the toppings and crisps when fried.
- Butter
- Fries the rounds, adding richness and promoting even golden browning.
- Anchovy paste
- Supplies the salty, savoury flavour that defines the toast.
The step that matters
Fry the rounds in butter until golden brown. Butter browns quickly because its milk solids caramelise and the water in it evaporates. Stop at golden brown, since darker butter turns bitter and the bread can scorch.
“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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