Why it works: Pepper and chive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,885 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Dutch Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 200°F (93°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C) and place a pan of sour milk inside with the door open.
Cut the milk into bars with a knife and let it set until it separates.
Drain the mixture in a colander lined with cheesecloth until dry.
Mix the drained cheese with pepper, coarse sea salt, chives, and sweet cream.
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.
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Pepper + chivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,885 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + chivetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together623 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
Swap the chive
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, pepper, cream):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Chivethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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