Name: Vermicelle a L'eau, Au Bouillon Et Au Lait
Ingredients: ½ cup vermicelli; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; Grated Gruyère cheese (optional); Grated Parmesan cheese (optional); ¼ teaspoon salt (for milk preparation); Sugar (to taste, for milk preparation)

Why it works: Cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,041 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Vermicelle a L'eau, Au Bouillon Et Au Lait

Ingredients

½ cup vermicelli
2 tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Grated Gruyère cheese (optional)
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
¼ teaspoon salt (for milk preparation)
Sugar (to taste, for milk preparation)

Directions

Cook the vermicelli

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the vermicelli. Cook for about 10 minutes until tender but not mushy.
Drain and mix with butter, salt, and pepper.

Serve

For a broth version, use beef or chicken broth instead of water.
For the milk version, add a little salt and sugar to taste.
Serve with grated Gruyère and Parmesan cheese if 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.

Cheese + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,041 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Vermicelli: Forms the main body of the dish once cooked until tender.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, coating the noodles and carrying flavour.

The step that matters

Cook until tender but not mushy. Pasta keeps softening after it leaves the water, so pulling it when it is just tender prevents it from turning soft and sticky once drained and mixed.

“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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Vermicelle a L'eau, Au Bouillon Et Au Lait