Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cheese Crackers
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Butter the soda crackers.
Assemble and toast
Place a thin slice of cheese on each cracker.
Toast in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts.
Serve
Serve with any salad, especially lettuce.
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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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 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
- Soda crackers
- Form the crisp base that holds the cheese and toasts in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the crackers brown as they toast.
- Thin slices of cheese
- Melt over the crackers to form a savory, creamy topping.
The step that matters
Toast until the cheese melts. Cheese melts quickly in a hot oven, and leaving it too long can dry it out and brown the crackers too much. Watch for the cheese to soften and turn glossy.
“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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