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Cheese Balls

Cheese balls are fried balls made from grated cheese, salt, cayenne pepper, and egg whites, coated in cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Cheese Balls

Why it works: Cheese and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,861 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cheese Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix together the grated cheese, salt, and cayenne pepper until well combined.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold them into the cheese mixture.

  3. Shape the mixture into small balls.

  4. Roll the balls in cracker crumbs until fully coated.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat oil in a deep pan and fry the balls until golden brown.

  2. Drain on brown paper and serve with a simple vegetable salad.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Cheese + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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

Grated cheese
Provides the main flavour and body of the balls, and melts to bind them while frying.
Egg whites
Beaten to stiff peaks, they lighten the mixture and help hold the balls together.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned coating that protects the soft interior during frying.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Fold gently so the air trapped in the stiff whites is kept; overmixing deflates them and leaves the balls dense and less light.

“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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