Name: Cheese Fingers
Ingredients: Puff pastry; Parmesan cheese; Salt; Cayenne pepper; 1 egg white; Powdered cheese

Why it works: Parmesan cheese and cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,041 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cheese Fingers

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.

Cut puff pastry into strips 3 inches long and 2 inches wide.
Sprinkle thickly with Parmesan cheese, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Fold the strips in half lengthwise, creasing them firmly.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
Brush with beaten egg white 3 minutes before removing from the oven.
Sift powdered cheese on top 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.

Parmesan cheese + cheesetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,041 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Pepper + cheesetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,861 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Parmesan cheese + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,368 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Egg + cheesetop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,253 recipes

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