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Dessert

Cream-crust, or Feuilletage

A pastry crust made with cream, cheese, egg yolk, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,608 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cream-crust, or Feuilletage

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Mix the grated cheese into the cream-crust until well combined.

  3. Roll out the mixture lightly twice.

  4. Cut into shapes using a small paste-cutter.

Bake and serve

  1. Wash the cut shapes with a mixture of egg yolk and a little milk.

  2. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden.

  3. Serve very 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.

  1. Parmesan cheese + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,608 recipes

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

  2. Cream + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,566 recipes

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

  3. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Parmesan cheese + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cream-crust pastry
Provides the rich, flaky base that gives the shapes their structure and tender texture.
Grated parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the pastry brown as it bakes.
Egg yolk
Mixed with milk to make a wash that gives the shapes a glossy, golden finish.

The step that matters

Bake until golden. Pastry with cheese browns quickly, and the sugars and proteins in the cheese and egg wash darken fast, so it can scorch before the centre is fully cooked. Watch the colour closely rather than relying only on the timing.

“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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