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Gnocchi À LA Romaine

A cheese-based gnocchi made with butter, flour, corn starch, milk, egg yolks, and grated cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Gnocchi À LA Romaine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Melt butter, and when bubbling, add flour, corn-starch, salt, and milk gradually.

  2. Cook for three minutes, stirring constantly.

  3. Add slightly beaten egg yolks and one-half cup grated cheese.

  4. Pour into a buttered shallow pan and cool.

Shape and brown

  1. Turn onto a board, cut into squares, diamonds, or strips.

  2. Place on a platter, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and brown in oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

897Calories
34 gProtein
35 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
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 Fannie Merritt Farmer. 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 + 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 flavour to the thickened base.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a firm, sliceable mixture.
Corn-starch
Adds thickening power, giving a smoother, more tender set.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the starches thicken as it cooks.
Egg yolks
Enrich the mixture and help it set firm when cooled.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Cook for three minutes, stirring constantly. Starch must be fully heated while stirred, or it stays lumpy and fails to thicken. Lumps and scorching can ruin the texture, so the mixture must not stop moving.

“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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