Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cheese Fondu
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Soak the crumbs in the milk.
Add the beaten eggs, baking soda, pepper, salt, and cheese.
Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.
Sprinkle the top with fine crumbs.
Bake and serve
Cover and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 25 minutes.
Remove the cover to brown the top.
Serve very hot.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard so the casserole holds its shape when baked.
- Bread or cracker crumbs
- Soak up the milk and give the casserole a soft, bready body.
- Cheese
- Adds rich flavor and fat, and firms up as the eggs set.
- Sweet milk
- Provides the liquid that moistens the crumbs and forms the custard.
- Baking soda
- Adds a small amount of alkalinity that can help browning on the top.
The step that matters
Remove the cover to brown the top. Covering traps steam so the top stays pale; uncovering lets surface moisture evaporate, allowing the top to brown while the custard finishes setting.
“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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