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Canadian Fondu

A baked cheese fondue made with butter, bread crumbs, cheese, milk, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓

Canadian Fondu

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Cut the butter and cheese into small pieces.

  2. Place the pieces in a large bowl with the bread crumbs.

  3. Pour scalding hot milk over the mixture.

  4. Add the beaten egg yolks and a pinch of salt. Mix well.

  5. Cover the bowl and place it on the stove.

  6. Stir occasionally until everything is dissolved.

Bake and serve

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff.

  2. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish or pie plate.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes.

  4. Serve immediately after removing from the 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.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 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

Eggs
Yolks enrich the base and whites, folded in stiff, lighten it and give it structure as it bakes.
Cheese
Melts into the milk to give the dish its rich flavor and smooth, creamy body.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the hot milk and help thicken the mixture so it holds together.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving a softer texture and a more rounded flavor.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff. Stiff whites trap air that expands in the oven and lifts the mixture. Overmixing knocks out that air, so the dish bakes up flatter and denser.

“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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