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Cheese Fondu

A baked cheese fondue made with milk, bread crumbs, cheese, eggs, pepper, salt, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk 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 the boiling milk.

  2. Beat in the grated cheese.

  3. Add the egg yolks, pepper, and salt.

  4. Grease a pudding dish with butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Whip the egg whites until frothy.

  2. Fold the whipped egg whites into the mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  4. Serve immediately as it will fall quickly.

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
Egg whites whipped and folded in give the fondue its light, airy rise, while yolks enrich it.
Dry cheese
Melts into the base to provide rich flavour and a creamy, savoury body.
Bread crumbs
Soaked in milk, they absorb liquid and help thicken the mixture for a soft structure.
Milk
Hydrates the bread crumbs and adds moisture that keeps the custard-like base tender.

The step that matters

Fold the whipped egg whites into the mixture. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the fondue heavy and prevents the rise that the dish depends on.

“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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