Name: Cheese Toast
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons fine butter; 1 tablespoon prepared mustard; ¼ teaspoon salt; freshly made thin toasts; Gloucester cheese

Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Make the topping

Mix the butter, mustard, and salt into a smooth mass.

Assemble

Spread the mixture on the thin toasts.
Grate or scrape Gloucester cheese over the toasts.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mustard + cheesetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,805 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + mustardtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,003 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds fat and richness, carrying the mustard and helping the topping spread smoothly over the toast.
Prepared mustard: Adds sharp, acidic flavour that cuts through the richness of the cheese and butter.
Gloucester cheese: Provides savoury flavour and, when melted or browned, a golden surface and rich texture.