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Dessert

Swiss Fondue

A baked cheese fondue made with bread crumbs, milk, eggs, cheese, salt, cayenne, baking soda, water, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Swiss Fondue

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the base

  1. Cover the bread crumbs with milk and let stand for 15 minutes.

  2. Beat the eggs and add them to the milk and bread mixture.

Make the mixture and bake

  1. Stir in the chopped cheese, salt, cayenne, baking soda dissolved in water, and melted butter. Mix thoroughly and pour into a baking dish.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Bread + cheesetop 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. Milk + cheesetop 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
Set the custard structure as they cook, holding the fondue together in the oven.
Cheese
Provides rich flavor and fat, and melts into the custard for a creamy texture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and give the fondue body and a soft, tender crumb.
Milk
Supplies moisture and liquid that sets with the eggs into a custard.
Baking soda
Raises the mixture's pH, aiding gentle browning of the top.

The step that matters

Bake until golden brown, not longer. Eggs set as they heat, so overbaking at 400°F can make the custard curdle, dry and rubbery. Pull it once the top is golden and the centre has just firmed.

“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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