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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Melt the butter.
Make and bake
In a bowl, combine the grated cheese, beaten eggs, melted butter, and milk.
Season with salt, pepper, and mixed mustard.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake until set and golden, like a custard pudding.
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).
-
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Proteins set when heated, giving the pudding its structure.
- Cheese
- Supplies the main flavor and fat, and its proteins add body as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and a creamy base that keeps the pudding tender.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Bake until just set. Egg proteins set with heat, but overbaking squeezes out liquid and makes the pudding grainy or rubbery. Remove it once the centre is just firm and the top is golden.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, egg, butter, milk, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, egg, butter, milk, pepper. 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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