Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Anchovy Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the anchovies and wipe them to remove the silver scales.
Pound the anchovies thoroughly in a mortar.
Make the butter
Add the butter and cayenne pepper, and mix well.
Rub the mixture through a sieve and use as needed.
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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Anchovies
- Provide the main salty, savory flavour and break down into a smooth paste when pounded.
- Butter
- Carries the anchovy flavour and gives the mixture a rich, spreadable texture.
The step that matters
Rubbing the mixture through a sieve. Pounding alone leaves fibrous bits and lumps. Pressing the mixture through a sieve breaks down remaining fragments and gives the butter a smooth, even texture.
“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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