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Parmesan Puffs

A fried puff made from bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, butter, salt, cayenne pepper, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Parmesan Puffs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a mortar, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, butter, salt, and cayenne, then pound thoroughly.

  2. Bind the mixture with the beaten egg and form into balls the size of a large walnut.

  3. Coat the balls in egg and bread crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat oil until hot but not boiling, then fry the puffs until lightly browned.

  2. Drain and serve very hot, piled on a napkin.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Bread + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and salty depth, and helps the puffs brown as they fry.
Egg
Binds the crumb and cheese mixture so it holds its shape in the oil.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mixture, softening the texture of the puffs.
Bread crumbs
Forms the bulk of the mixture and gives the puffs a crisp, golden coating.

The step that matters

Frying at the right oil temperature. Oil that is hot but not boiling browns the outside while the centre heats through. Oil that is too hot browns the coating before the cheese mixture cooks inside, and oil that is too cool lets the puffs soak up grease and turn heavy.

“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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