Why it works: Milk and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,222 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard base
Boil the milk and cream together.
Melt the butter with salt in a pan.
Mix in the flour.
Stir for 5 minutes over heat.
Gradually pour in the milk and cream.
Stir until smooth and cooked.
Remove from heat.
Finish the batter
Add the grated cheese, pepper, nutmeg, powdered sugar, yolks, and beaten egg whites.
Mix until smooth and thick like cream.
Bake and serve
Prepare small paper trays.
Fill the trays ⅔ full with the batter.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 8 minutes.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,955 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,424 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help the custard set when heated, giving a smooth, firm texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and lighten the batter so it rises and bakes airy.
- Flour
- Cooked with butter into a roux, it thickens the milk and cream into a smooth base.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savoury flavour and fat, and helps give the baked custard body.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, making the custard richer and softer.
The step that matters
Stir the milk and cream into the roux until smooth and cooked. Adding liquid too fast or not stirring can leave lumps of flour. The starch must be fully cooked to thicken the base and remove any raw flour taste.
Flavor stand-ins for the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cream, butter, flour, cheese, pepper, sugar):
- Cinnamonabout as good a flavor fit
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, butter, flour, cheese, pepper, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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