Skip to main content
Dessert

Cheese Straws

Cheese Straws are baked strips of dough flavored with cheese and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cheese and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,861 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cheese Straws

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, and cayenne pepper, then sift together.

  3. Add half of the lard and pour in the cold water.

  4. Use a knife to combine until a biscuit dough consistency is reached.

Laminate with cheese

  1. Spread the remaining lard on the dough.

  2. Roll it out.

  3. Sprinkle half of the cheese on the dough.

  4. Roll it in.

  5. Repeat until all cheese is used.

Shape and bake

  1. Divide the dough into small pieces.

  2. Roll each piece as thin as possible.

  3. Cut the rolled dough into strips about 6 inches long and ⅛ inch wide.

  4. Bake in the preheated oven 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. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + cheesetop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,860 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and crisp bite.
Lard
Adds fat that shortens the dough, creating a tender, flaky texture.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and, as it browns, golden color and richness.
Cold water
Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together without becoming tough.

The step that matters

Combine the dough without overworking it. Mixing only until a biscuit-like consistency is reached keeps gluten development limited, so the straws stay tender and crisp rather than tough.

“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.

More cheese straws recipes

Cayenne 11 See all 284 →

You might also like

Cheese BallsCheese Balls97 recipesCheese CakeCheese Cake55 recipesCream CheeseCream Cheese46 recipesLemon PieLemon Pie37 recipes