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Epicurean Butter

A butter flavored with tarragon, parsley, chervil, chives, anchovies, capers, and sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Epicurean Butter

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine tarragon, parsley, chervil, and chives; parboil and squeeze in a cloth.

  2. Add anchovies, capers, sauce, and butter to the mixture.

  3. Pound all ingredients in a mortar until well mixed.

  4. Rub through a sieve and use as desired.

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. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together370 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Chervil + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Chive + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Tarragon + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together379 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

Butter
Provides fat and a smooth, spreadable body that carries the herb and anchovy flavours.
Anchovies
Add a salty, savoury depth that rounds out the herbs and butter.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny acidity that brightens the rich butter.

The step that matters

Parboil and squeeze the herbs. Brief parboiling sets the green colour of the tarragon, parsley, chervil and chives, and squeezing removes excess water so the butter stays thick and does not separate or turn watery.

“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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