Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Fondu
Ingredients
Directions
Make the fondue
Warm the cream and Parmesan cheese together in an earthenware basin.
Stir in the egg yolks one by one until smooth.
Place the basin in a bain-marie and steam slowly for 30 minutes.
If no silver pot is available, wrap a napkin around the basin to disguise its form.
Cool the fondue.
Fry and serve
Cut the cooled fondue into disks.
Dip the disks in beaten eggs and bread crumbs.
Fry the disks until golden brown.
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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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Parmesan cheese + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together577 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cream + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,566 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Parmesan cheese + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,368 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg 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
- Cream
- Provides moisture and a smooth, rich body to the custard base.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds savory flavor and firms the mixture as it cools.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the mixture as they gently set and add richness.
- Eggs
- Form a coating that helps the disks brown and hold together when fried.
- Bread crumbs
- Create a crisp, golden outer crust during frying.
The step that matters
Steam slowly in the bain-marie. Egg yolks set and can curdle or turn grainy if heated too quickly. Gentle, even steam keeps the custard smooth and thick enough to cut into disks.
“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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