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 ↓
Bread Saute
Ingredients
Directions
In a chafing dish, melt the butter and brown the bread on both sides.
Remove the bread and add the ham, cheese, and cream to the dish.
Season with Cayenne pepper, mix well, and heat until very hot.
Spread the mixture on the toasted bread.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 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
- Bread
- Provides a crisp, browned base that holds the warm topping.
- Butter
- Adds fat for browning the bread and a rich flavor to the pan.
- Cheese
- Melts into the cream to give a creamy, binding topping.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and makes the ham and cheese mixture spreadable when heated.
- Ham
- Contributes savory, salty meat flavor to the topping.
The step that matters
Heating the cream, cheese and ham mixture until very hot. Cream and cheese can separate or turn grainy if overheated, while underheating leaves the cheese unmelted and the topping thin. Stirring well while heating helps the cheese blend evenly into the cream.
“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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