Name: Cheese Roast
Ingredients: 1¼ pints grated cheese; 1 onion; 2 cups bread crumbs; 1⅓ cups water; ½ cup batter; 4 lemons; 1 cup chopped nut meats; butter for greasing

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 Roast

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

Slice the onion and cook it in butter and water until tender.

Mix and bake

In a bowl, mix the cheese, bread crumbs, chopped nut meats, and the juice of the lemons.
Add the onion and its cooking water to the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a deep buttered bread tin.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + meattop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Grated cheese: Provides the main body, rich flavor, and setting structure as it melts and firms.
Bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and give the roast a firmer, sliceable texture.
Lemons: Add acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the cheese.
Chopped nut meats: Add texture and a toasty, nutty flavor to the mixture.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, onion, bread, meat, butter):

Avocadofits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, onion, bread, meat, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.