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Fondue

A baked cheese fondue with garlic, mustard, nutmeg, pepper, salt, eggs, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Fondue

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 the base

  1. Mince the garlic.

  2. Mix the minced garlic with mustard powder, nutmeg, and black pepper in a saucepan.

  3. Stir the mixture over moderate heat for 10 minutes.

  4. Remove the garlic from the mixture.

  5. Take the saucepan off the heat.

  6. Let the mixture cool slightly, stirring occasionally.

Make the soufflé mixture

  1. Beat the yolks of 4 eggs with 1 tablespoon of milk and strain them.

  2. Mix the strained yolk mixture into the cooled mixture.

  3. Beat the whites of 5 eggs until frothy.

  4. Quickly incorporate the frothy whites into the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased deep round tin.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 to 30 minutes until ready.

  3. Serve immediately in the tin with a napkin around it.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

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

  5. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks add richness and set the custard, while whipped whites lift the mixture and give it airy structure.
Egg whites
Whipped into foam, they trap air that expands in the oven, giving a light, risen texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the yolk mixture so it blends smoothly into the base.
Mustard powder
Adds sharp, savoury flavour that balances the richness of the eggs and cheese.

The step that matters

Quickly incorporate the frothy whites. Whisked egg whites hold air bubbles that collapse when overmixed or left standing. Folding them in gently and promptly keeps the mixture light so it rises in the oven.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, mustard, nutmeg, pepper, egg, milk, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, mustard, nutmeg, pepper, egg, milk, butter. 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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