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
Make the fondue
Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan.
Add the cheese and bread crumbs.
Stir in the well-beaten egg.
Cook until the cheese melts thoroughly, stirring constantly.
Serve
Serve on buttered toasted bread.
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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Cheese + breadtop 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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Cheese + milktop 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
- Cheese
- Melts to form the body and rich flavor of the fondue.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and help thicken the mixture as it cooks.
- Egg
- Adds structure as it sets, helping bind and thicken the mixture.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that melts the cheese smoothly into a creamy sauce.
The step that matters
Cook until the cheese melts thoroughly, stirring constantly. Over-high heat or no stirring can make cheese grainy or cause the egg to scramble, so constant stirring over gentle heat keeps the sauce smooth and cohesive.
“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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