Why it works: Parmesan cheese and gruyere cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
Fondue of Cheese
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).
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the butter, potato flour, warm cream, egg yolks, Parmesan cheese, Gruyère cheese, sugar, and white pepper.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites until combined.
Bake or fry
Pour the mixture into small paper cases and bake until set, or fry in a pan like a pancake.
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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Parmesan cheese + gruyere cheesetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together152 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + gruyere cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together323 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped egg whites trap air, giving the mixture lightness and a risen, airy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Yolks add richness and help bind the mixture as it sets.
- Potato flour
- Starch thickens the mixture and gives it a soft, set structure when heated.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds concentrated savoury flavour and salty, umami depth to the mixture.
- Gruyère cheese
- Melts and adds nutty, savoury flavour with a rich texture.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat for richness, tenderness and a smooth mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg whites hold air only while whipped. Overmixing or deflating them against the heavy cheese batter loses that air, so the mixture bakes flat and dense instead of light.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, cream, egg, parmesan cheese, gruyere cheese, sugar):
- Potatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, cream, egg, parmesan cheese, gruyere cheese, sugar. 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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