Name: Classic Gougères
Ingredients: 1 cup water; 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into; small pieces; 1 tsp. fine sea salt; 1⁄8 tsp. cayenne pepper; 1⁄4 tsp. sweet Hungarian paprika; 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour; 5 eggs; 3⁄4 cup shredded Gruyère cheese; 3⁄4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese; 1 tsp. milk

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

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together81,283 recipes

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

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Classic Gougères