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 ↓
Cheese Fondu
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the base
Soak the bread crumbs in the sweet milk.
Mix the soaked crumbs with the eggs, melted butter, salt, pepper, and baking soda until smooth.
Stir in the grated cheese and beat well.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish.
Sprinkle fine bread crumbs on top.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until puffed and lightly browned.
Serve immediately as it will fall and become heavy.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard structure and help the dish puff when baked.
- Grated cheese
- Provides the main flavor and, once melted, a rich, binding body.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the milk and add body, giving the custard a soft, sturdy texture.
- Sweet milk
- Supplies the liquid that moistens the crumbs and forms the custard base.
- Baking soda
- Adds a small amount of leavening to help the dish rise.
The step that matters
Serve immediately. The baked dish puffs from trapped air in the eggs and will collapse and turn dense as it cools, so it should go to the table right after baking.
“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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