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Cheese Ramkins

A baked bread and cheese mixture with eggs and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Butter and bread 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 Ramkins

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the base

  1. Soak the bread in the milk.

  2. Heat the milk with the soaked bread until warm.

  3. Add the butter and cheese, stirring until melted.

  4. Remove from heat and mix in the beaten yolks, salt, and pepper.

Bake and serve

  1. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites until just combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

  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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cheese + breadtop 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
Yolks thicken the custard and whites, folded in, lighten it and help it rise and set.
Cheese
Adds rich flavour and fat, and its proteins help the mixture set as it bakes.
Bread
Soaks up the milk and gives the dish body, so it holds a soft, pudding-like structure.
Milk
Supplies the liquid that the eggs set in, giving a tender, moist texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites trap air that gives lift; overmixing deflates them, leaving a dense, flat result. Fold only until just combined.

“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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