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Dessert

Fondue

A sweet cheese fondue made with Parmesan, butter, eggs, cream, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Fondue

Oven, in the book's wordsA very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Grate the Parmesan cheese and beat it in a mortar to a paste.

  2. Add the butter and beat well.

  3. Stir in the egg yolks and cream until fully mixed.

  4. Slowly add the beaten egg whites and sugar, mixing gently.

  5. Pour the mixture into a deep silver or block tin dish.

Bake

  1. Stir the mixture a few minutes after placing it in the oven.

  2. Bake until set and golden.

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. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Parmesan cheese + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,566 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and body, and helps the fondue set firm and brown when baked.
Egg yolks
Enrich the mixture and help bind it, giving a rich, custard-like set.
Egg whites
Beaten to foam, they lighten the mixture and help it rise and puff in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth texture to the cheese paste.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the fondue tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when beaten stiff and folded in gently. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam, so the fondue will not rise as lightly in the oven.

“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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