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Dessert

Cheese Straws

Cheese Straws are baked strips of flour, butter, cheese, and eggs seasoned with cayenne pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Straws

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 dough

  1. In a bowl, combine the flour and butter, and rub together until smooth.

  2. Add the grated cheese, egg yolks, and beaten egg white (if using).

  3. Season with cayenne pepper and salt to taste, and mix thoroughly.

  4. Roll out the mixture to just under ¼ inch thick on a floured surface.

Cut and bake

  1. Cut into narrow strips, about 4 to 5 inches long, and place on a well-buttered baking sheet.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 5 to 6 minutes until light golden brown.

  3. Carefully remove from the baking sheet to serve unbroken.

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. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten structure that holds the thin straws together.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the dough tender and helps it crisp and brown in the oven.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and fat, and helps the straws brown as they bake.
Egg yolks
Add richness and fat, and bind the dough so it rolls and holds its shape.
Egg white
Adds structure and lightness, helping the straws hold together when baked.

The step that matters

Carefully remove from the baking sheet to serve unbroken.. The straws are thin and short-baked, so they are fragile while hot. Letting them cool briefly on the sheet firms the butter and cheese, so they lift off without breaking.

“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.

More cheese straws recipes

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