Name: Cayenne Cheese
Ingredients: 3 oz grated Parmesan cheese; 3 oz all-purpose flour; 3 oz unsalted butter; Cayenne pepper to taste

Why it works: Parmesan cheese and butter 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 ↓

Cayenne Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

3 oz grated Parmesan cheese
3 oz all-purpose flour
3 oz unsalted butter
Cayenne pepper to taste

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.

Make the dough

In a bowl, combine grated Parmesan cheese, flour, and butter.
Sprinkle in cayenne pepper to taste and mix until a paste forms.
Roll out the paste thinly and cut into desired shapes.

Bake and serve

Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Remove from the oven, place on a napkin over a dish, and 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.

Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Flour and butter 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

Parmesan cheese: Adds savory flavor and salty richness to the dough.
All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that holds the paste together when rolled and cut.
Unsalted butter: Adds fat that makes the dough tender and helps it bind with the flour.

“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.