Name: Two Beignets Au Parmesan a l’Allemande
Ingredients: Parmesan cheese; eggs; hog's lard (for frying); butter (for greasing paper)

Why it works: Parmesan cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Two Beignets Au Parmesan a l’Allemande

Ingredients

Parmesan cheese
eggs
hog's lard (for frying)
butter (for greasing paper)

Directions

Prepare a mixture of Parmesan cheese and eggs as in the Favorites au Parmesan, omitting the ham.
Butter two sheets of parchment paper.
Place the mixture in a piping bag fitted with a ¼ inch diameter nozzle.
Squeeze the mixture onto the buttered paper in circular lumps, about the size of a large walnut.
Heat hog's lard in a pan until hot enough to fry fish.
Fry the beignets gently, moving them with a perforated spoon for even cooking.
Test a couple before frying the rest; if too light, add 2-3 more egg yolks to the mixture.

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.

Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Parmesan cheese + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,368 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).