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A Savory of Semolina

A baked semolina custard made with milk, eggs, cheese, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,426 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

A Savory of Semolina

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the custard

  1. Stir semolina into boiling milk with a little salt until thickened like cream.

  2. Boil carefully until thoroughly cooked, watching to prevent burning.

  3. Beat eggs, separating whites and yolks, and stir yolks into the mixture while on the heat.

  4. Add beaten egg whites and pour into a large shallow dish.

Set and bake

  1. Cool for several hours until set, then cut into 2-inch squares.

  2. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  2. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Semolina + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together316 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Semolina + cheesetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together60 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Semolina + eggtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together327 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Semolina
Thickens the boiling milk into a firm custard as it cooks.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the custard, while beaten whites add lightness and help it set.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the semolina thickens into the custard.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top during baking, adding savoury flavour and colour.

The step that matters

Boil carefully until thoroughly cooked. Semolina must be fully cooked to lose its raw, grainy taste and to thicken properly. Stirring constantly and watching the heat prevents scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“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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