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Dessert

Cheese Fondu Au Gratin

A baked cheese fondue with bread crumbs, milk, eggs, butter, and spices, topped with cracker crumbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Cheese Fondu Au Gratin

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 hot milk for 15 minutes.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk while heating.

  3. Stir in the beaten eggs, melted butter, cayenne, and salt.

  4. Beat in the grated cheese rapidly.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding dish.

  2. Top with dry cracker crumbs and dot with butter.

  3. Dust lightly with cayenne or paprika.

  4. Bake covered in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes.

  5. Uncover and brown lightly before serving.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 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

Eggs
Set the custard-like mixture as they cook, giving it structure and body.
Cheese
Adds richness, fat and flavour, and melts into the mixture for a creamy texture.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the hot milk and help thicken the mixture, giving it body.
Milk
Provides the liquid base that the crumbs soak in and the eggs set within.
Baking soda
Reacts with the hot milk and cheese to change their acidity and aid a lighter texture.

The step that matters

Beat in the grated cheese rapidly. Eggs set when heated and cheese can turn grainy or oily if it is overheated or left to sit. Beating quickly keeps the cheese evenly dispersed so the mixture stays smooth before it goes into the oven.

“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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