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Cheese Fritters

A batter of butter, flour, corn starch, milk, eggs, and cheese baked into squares or shapes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Cheese Fritters

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cheese Fritters

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the cheese base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour, corn starch, and salt; stir until well blended.

  3. Gradually pour in the scalded milk while stirring constantly.

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes.

  5. Stir in the beaten eggs and grated cheese.

Set and shape

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered shallow pan and let it cool.

  2. Once cooled, turn it out onto a board and cut into squares, diamonds, or finger shapes.

Bake and serve

  1. Arrange the pieces in a pan, sprinkle with grated cheese, and brown in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  4. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the base before the milk goes in.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture so the base holds its shape when cooled.
Corn starch
Adds thickening power so the base sets firm and sliceable.
Eggs
Bind the cooked base and help it set into a firm, sliceable block.
Cheese
Adds savory flavor and melts into the base, then browns on top.

The step that matters

Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes. Starch granules must reach a boil and cook fully to thicken the milk. Undercooked starch leaves a loose base that will not set firmly enough to cut into shapes.

“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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