Why it works: Milk and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,222 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line a dozen small dariole moulds with very thin ordinary pastry.
Make the filling
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the cornflour, then the milk, and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat, add the cheese, and mix in the beaten eggs.
Season with salt and cayenne pepper.
Fill and bake
Half fill the moulds with the mixture, add a small amount of anchovy paste in the center, then cover with the remaining mixture.
Sprinkle the surface with grated cheese and bake until light 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,955 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,424 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + anchovytop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,268 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Butter + anchovytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,672 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ordinary pastry
- Forms the thin shell that holds the filling while it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the cheese mixture and help it set into a firm custard when baked.
- Gruyère cheese
- Adds rich flavour and melts into the filling, helping it set and brown on top.
- Cornflour
- Thickens the milk and butter mixture so it holds its shape in the filling.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce that the eggs and cheese set into.
The step that matters
Bring the milk mixture to a boil before adding the cheese. Cornflour must boil to fully thicken and lose its raw starch taste; a thin, unboiled base will not set properly once the eggs and cheese are added.
“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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