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Cheese Pufes

Cheese Puffs are baked bread crumb and cheese cakes served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Pufes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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 the base

  1. Soak the bread crumbs in milk until absorbed.

  2. Mix the soaked crumbs with eggs and season with salt.

Bake the layers

  1. Layer cheese and bread crumbs in a baking dish.

  2. Pour the egg mixture on top.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 15 minutes.

Make and serve the puffs

  1. Heap grated cheese on each bread slice, leaving edges clear.

  2. Toast the slices in a pan in a hot oven until the cheese is bubbly but not melted too much.

  3. Serve immediately on a hot dish.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the crumb mixture and set into a light, custard-like structure when baked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and form the soft body that holds the egg and cheese.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Milk
Softens the bread crumbs and adds moisture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Toast the slices until the cheese is bubbly but not melted too much. Cheese that overheats turns oily and separates, while underheated cheese stays stiff. Watching for a bubbly surface without over-melting keeps the topping smooth and well browned.

“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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