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Cheese Pxtffs

A baked cheese puff made with cheese, butter, flour, eggs, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 Pxtffs

a dozen small cases
Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Butter a dozen small paper cases or stiff writing-paper boxes.

Make the batter

  1. In a thick saucepan, bring the water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons of butter.

  2. Stir in the flour and beat until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the saucepan.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the grated cheese. Let it cool slightly.

  4. Beat the egg yolks until foamy and the whites until stiff.

  5. Stir the yolks into the cheese mixture, then gently fold in the egg whites.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the buttered cases halfway with the mixture.

  2. Bake for about 15 minutes until puffed and golden.

  3. Serve immediately on a hot dish covered with a folded 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. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cheese + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,253 recipes

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air and lift the puffs, while the yolks add richness and set the structure.
Flour
Starch gelatinises with the hot water and butter, giving the paste enough body to hold its shape.
Dry, rich cheese
Adds concentrated savoury flavour and fat, and helps the puffs turn golden as they bake.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the paste, softening the texture and aiding browning.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites are stiff only when whipped with air; overmixing or stirring them in deflates the foam, so the puffs will not rise. Fold gently so the air stays trapped during baking.

“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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