Why it works: Cheese and butter 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 Patties
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Line tartlet tins with puff pastry and half‑fill them with the cheese mixture.
Make the filling
In a mortar, combine cheese, salt, pepper, mustard, and butter; pound until smooth.
Gradually mix in the beaten egg yolks and sherry until well combined.
Just before baking, fold in the beaten egg white.
Bake
Bake for about 15 minutes 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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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cheese + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together143 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cheese
- Provides the main body and rich, savoury flavour of the filling as it sets.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the mixture so it sets smooth and firm when baked.
- Egg white
- Whipped to a froth, it adds air and lightness so the filling rises and bakes softer.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture and a richer mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg white just before baking. Beaten egg white holds air bubbles that give lightness. Its foam slowly collapses as it stands, so folding it in gently and baking straight away keeps the filling light instead of dense.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, pepper, butter, egg, sherry):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, pepper, butter, egg, sherry. 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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