Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cheese Straws
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, salt, cayenne pepper, egg, water, and enough flour to form a soft dough.
If the cheese is not soft enough, grind it before mixing.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough thin and cut it with a pastry cutter.
Shape the dough into rings and fill them with straws after baking.
Plait the straws into sticks and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream cheese + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,549 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cream cheese + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,180 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream cheese + peppertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,195 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Cream cheese
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the dough a tender, rich texture.
- Egg
- Binds the dough together and adds structure as it bakes.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that lets the soft dough be rolled and shaped.
The step that matters
Roll the dough thin. Thin dough bakes quickly and dries out into a crisp, golden straw. Thick dough stays doughy in the centre and bakes up soft and heavy.
“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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