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Cheese Aigrettes

A fried dough made with flour, butter, eggs, cheese, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese 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 ↓

Cheese Aigrettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Dry the flour in the oven and sift it.

  2. Boil the water and butter together.

  3. Add the flour to the boiling mixture and stir vigorously until it leaves the sides of the pan clean.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  5. Add the eggs one by one, along with the seasoning and cheese.

  6. Cool the mixture on a plate.

Fry and serve

  1. Drop small spoonfuls of the mixture into hot oil and fry until golden brown.

  2. Serve on a napkin with grated Parmesan sprinkled on top.

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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour 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

Vienna flour
Forms the starchy base that sets into the choux-style dough when cooked.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help the fritters puff and set as they cook.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury, salty flavour and a nutty aroma to the dough.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the dough a tender texture.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture before frying. If the dough is still very hot when the eggs are added, they can scramble or the dough may be too loose. Cooling it on a plate lets it thicken so the spoonfuls hold their shape and fry evenly in the oil.

“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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