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Cheese Fondue

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 Fondue

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.

Make the mixture

  1. Mix the first five ingredients together.

  2. Add the yolks of the eggs, beaten until stiff.

  3. Fold in the whites of the eggs, beaten until stiff.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.

  2. Bake for 20 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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
Whites trapped as foam lift and set the mixture, while yolks add richness and binding.
Mild cheese
Melts into the custard, providing the main flavor and a creamy, rich texture.
Milk
Supplies moisture and softens the bread so the mixture stays tender.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and give the dish body and structure as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for richness, mild flavor and a softer crumb.

The step that matters

Fold in the whites of the eggs. Whites hold air only when beaten stiff, and that air gives lift. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps the foam intact so the dish rises and stays light instead of deflating into a dense mass.

“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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