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Cheese Fonda

A baked dish of soaked breadcrumbs, milk, egg and grated old cheese, served from the baking dish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cheese Fonda

Oven, in the book's wordsA rather quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a rather quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the base

  1. Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk.

  2. Beat in the egg yolk, melted butter, pepper, salt, and the dissolved baking soda.

  3. Fold in the grated cheese.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter a shallow pie dish and pour the mixture into it.

  2. Sprinkle dry breadcrumbs on top.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until delicately browned.

  4. Serve immediately in the baking dish as it will fall quickly.

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

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

  2. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Egg white and yolk add structure and richness, helping the fonda set and rise when baked.
Old dry cheese
Provides the main flavour and fat, and sets into a firm body as it cooks.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb the milk and add body, giving the mixture a soft, light texture.
Milk
Moistens the breadcrumbs and keeps the mixture tender during baking.
Baking soda
Raises the mixture's alkalinity, which helps the cheese melt smoothly and the mixture lighten.

The step that matters

Serve immediately. The fonda is a risen, delicate structure that deflates as it cools, because the trapped steam and air in the set egg and cheese mixture collapse. Serving straight from the oven keeps it puffed.

“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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