Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cheese Straws
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a bowl, mix together the flour, cheese, salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper, butter, milk, and egg yolk until smooth.
Divide the mixture into two parts and roll each part very thin.
Cut the rolled dough into narrow strips, each 3 inches long.
Bake and serve
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Serve hot or cold.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and lets it roll thin and hold its strip shape.
- Cheese
- Adds savoury flavour and fat, enriching the dough and helping it brown lightly in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the dough and contributes richness to the baked strips.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the dough and adds fat and richness, helping it hold together when rolled.
The step that matters
Rolling the dough very thin. Thin dough bakes quickly and dries into a crisp, snappy straw. If it is rolled thick, the centre stays soft and the straws will not crisp evenly.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cheese, pepper, butter, milk, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cheese, pepper, butter, milk, 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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