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Cheese Fondu

A baked cheese pudding made with bread crumbs, milk, cheese, eggs, butter, spices, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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

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 custard

  1. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk.

  2. Beat in the eggs, melted butter, pepper, salt, and baking soda.

  3. Fold in the grated cheese.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a pudding dish.

  2. Sprinkle dry bread crumbs over the top.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until delicately browned.

  4. Serve immediately from the pudding 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. 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. Cheese + buttertop 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
Bind the mixture and set into a sliceable, custard-like structure as they cook.
Dry rich cheese
Adds rich flavor and melts into the custard, giving it a creamy, stringy texture.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the milk to give the custard body, and form a crisp, browned top.
Fresh milk
Provides the liquid base that sets with the eggs into a soft custard.
Baking soda
Raises the mixture slightly and helps the top brown.

The step that matters

Bake until delicately browned. Egg proteins set as the dish heats, so underbaking leaves it runny while overbaking makes it dry and rubbery. Watch for a light golden top rather than relying on time alone.

“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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