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Hot Cheese Sandwiches

A baked sandwich made with bread, cheese, salt, paprika, and butter or egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Hot Cheese Sandwiches

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut the bread into two-inch square slices.

  2. Remove a smaller square from the center, leaving a half-inch thick border.

  3. Fill the space with a piece of American cheese.

  4. Sprinkle with salt and paprika.

  5. Cover with a thin slice of bread to form a box.

  6. Brush the top with melted butter or beaten egg white.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

  2. Serve very hot on hot plates.

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 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

Bread
Forms the box-shaped case that holds the cheese while it bakes.
American cheese
Melts into a soft, rich filling that fills the center of the sandwich.
Melted butter or beaten egg white
Coats the top so it browns and turns golden in the oven.

The step that matters

Brushing the top with butter or egg white. A thin, even coat promotes browning and a golden crust. Uneven coverage leaves pale patches, and the sides can dry out if the bread is too thin.

“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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