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Cheese Balls, Fried

Small fried balls made from bread crumbs, cheese, mustard, cayenne pepper, salt, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Balls, Fried

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix the bread crumbs, salt, mustard, cheese, cayenne pepper, and egg until well combined.

  2. Shape the mixture into small balls.

  3. Fry the balls in deep fat until golden brown.

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 + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + cheesetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 recipes

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

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + mustardtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,484 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Dry brown or victory bread crumbs
Provide bulk and absorb moisture so the mixture holds together when shaped.
Cheese
Adds rich savoury flavour and fat, and softens and melts inside the fried coating.
Egg
Binds the crumbs and cheese so the balls keep their shape while frying.
Mustard
Adds a sharp, tangy note that balances the richness of the cheese.

The step that matters

Fry the balls in deep fat until golden brown. If the fat is too cool, the balls absorb oil and turn greasy; if it is too hot, the outside browns before the cheese centre heats through. Steady, moderate heat gives a crisp coating and a warm, soft interior.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cheese, pepper, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cheese, pepper, egg. 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.

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