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Cayenne Cheese Straws

Cayenne cheese straws are crisp, thin strips made from flour, butter, parmesan, egg yolk, salt, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cayenne Cheese Straws

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Combine a quarter of a pound of flour, two ounces butter, two ounces grated parmesan cheese, a pinch of salt, and a few grains of cayenne pepper.

  2. Mix into a paste with the yolk of an egg.

  3. Roll out the dough to the thickness of a silver quarter, about four or five inches long.

Shape and bake

  1. Cut the rolled dough into strips about a third of an inch wide.

  2. Twist the strips as you would a paper spill.

  3. Lay the twisted strips on a baking sheet slightly floured.

  4. Bake in a moderate oven until crisp, but they must not be the least brown.

Store and serve

  1. Store the baked straws in a tin to keep them for a long time.

  2. Serve the straws cold, piled tastefully on a glass dish.

  3. You can make the straws of remnants of puff pastry, rolling in the grated cheese.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

679Calories
24 gProtein
20 gFat
98 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 fat and richness, giving the straws a tender, crumbly texture.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and salty depth, and helps the straws brown lightly as they bake.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the paste together and sets as the straws bake crisp.
Egg yolk (in the method)
Binds the dry ingredients into a workable paste and adds richness.

The step that matters

Baking until crisp but not brown. Thin straws dry out and crisp quickly, so they can scorch fast. Baking them pale and dry keeps them light and crisp rather than bitter and tough.

“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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