Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cheese Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
In a mortar, combine cheese, ham, bread crumbs, mustard, butter, cayenne, and egg yolk, then pound the mixture until smooth.
Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls and flatten to ½ inch thick.
Fry and serve
Dip each fritter in batter and fry until lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes.
Drain on a napkin and serve hot.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cheese
- Provides rich flavor and melts to bind the fritter together.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the mixture and adds richness to the fritters.
- Bread crumbs
- Adds body and absorbs moisture so the mixture holds its shape.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a softer texture and rich flavor.
The step that matters
Frying until lightly browned. Frying over moderate heat browns the surface through the Maillard reaction while the cheese inside melts, so the fritter is heated through without burning. Too much heat can scorch the outside before the centre is hot.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, ham, bread, butter, pepper, egg):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Tomatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, ham, bread, butter, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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