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Ramakins

A baked cheese roll made with Cheshire and Gloucester cheeses, butter, eggs, and a French roll soaked in cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ramakins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Soak the French roll in cream until soft.

  2. In a mortar, beat the cheeses and butter together with the egg yolks.

  3. Mix in the soaked roll until well combined.

Finish and bake

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

  2. Pour the mixture into small paper pans that are longer than square.

  3. Bake in a Dutch oven until golden brown.

  4. Serve hot.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 recipes

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

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Egg whites
Beaten and folded in, they lighten the mixture and help it rise and set with air.
Egg yolks
Enrich the mixture and bind the cheese and butter into a smooth, set custard-like texture.
Cheshire cheese
Provides rich cheese flavor and fat, and helps the mixture set as it bakes.
Gloucester cheese
Adds more cheese flavor and richness, and helps the mixture set as it bakes.
French roll
Soaked in cream, it adds body and moisture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Beaten egg whites hold air that gives lift. Folding gently keeps that air in the mixture; stirring or deflating it heavily makes the roll dense and flat.

“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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