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Cheese Fondu

A baked cheese fondue made with bread crumbs, cheese, milk, butter, egg, baking soda, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Fondu

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Soak the bread crumbs in milk.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 teaspoon of water and add it to the milk.

  3. Mix in the remaining ingredients and beat well.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish.

  2. Sprinkle dry bread crumbs moistened with butter over the top.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until brown.

  4. Serve immediately in the baking dish.

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. Cheese + milktop 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
Set the custard-like mixture and add richness and structure as they cook.
Dry grated cheese
Provides the main cheese flavor and, when melted, a rich, savory body.
Bread crumbs
Soak up milk to give the mixture body and a soft, tender crumb.
Milk
Supplies liquid that moistens the crumbs and forms the base of the custard.
Baking soda
Reacts with the mixture to lighten its texture and help it rise in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until brown. The dish must be baked hot enough to set the egg and milk custard and brown the top. Underbaking leaves it loose, while overbaking dries it and toughens the egg.

“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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