Name: Beignets a LA Pignatelli
Ingredients: 1 pint water; 1½ ounces butter; coarse sea salt (to taste); black pepper (to taste); 4½ ounces flour; 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese; sufficient eggs (to make a smooth paste); 1 ounce lean cooked ham, finely chopped; plenty of hot fat (for frying)

Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Beignets a LA Pignatelli

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

In a saucepan, combine 1 pint of water and 1½ ounces of butter. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper, then bring to a boil.
Add 4½ ounces of flour and 1 ounce of grated Parmesan cheese. Stir over heat for 3 minutes.
Incorporate enough eggs to create a smooth paste, then mix in 1 ounce of finely chopped cooked ham.

Fry and serve

Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls and fry in plenty of hot fat until golden brown.
Serve very hot on a napkin.

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.

Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

Butter and flour 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: Starch that gelatinises with the water and sets the paste into a structure that holds its shape.
Eggs: Add moisture and proteins that set during frying, giving the beignets their airy, puffed structure.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the water base, contributing flavour and a tender texture.
Parmesan cheese: Adds savoury, salty flavour and browns during frying for a nutty crust.

The step that matters

Frying in hot fat. The fat must be very hot so the outside sets and turns golden quickly. If it is too cool, the balls absorb oil and become greasy and dense before the centre cooks through.

“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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Beignets a LA Pignatelli