Name: Couronne De Brioche Au Fromage
Ingredients: 500 grams brioche dough, raised and cooled; 100 grams grated parmesan cheese; slices of gruyère cheese; additional parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Why it works: Parmesan cheese and 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 ↓

Couronne De Brioche Au Fromage

Ingredients

500 grams brioche dough, raised and cooled
100 grams grated parmesan cheese
slices of gruyère cheese
additional parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Shape the crown

Place the brioche dough on a clean surface and mix in the grated parmesan.
Shape the dough into a ball and make a hole in the center with your hand to form a crown.
Place the crown on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Decorate and bake

Brush the top with egg wash, then lightly score the surface.
Insert thin slices of gruyère cheese at intervals around the crown.
Sprinkle additional parmesan cheese on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 40 minutes.

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 + cheesetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,041 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Brioche + cheesetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together31 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Brioche + parmesan cheesetop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brioche dough: Provides a rich, soft, tender crumb that holds the crown's shape while it bakes.
Parmesan cheese: Adds savory, salty flavor and browns and crisps on the surface as it bakes.
Gruyère cheese: Melts into the dough, adding creamy texture and a nutty, savory flavor.

“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.