Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cheese Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Shape the balls
Combine the grated cheese, bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce, and beaten egg in a bowl.
Mix well and shape the mixture into small balls.
Place the balls in a wire basket.
Fry and serve
Just before serving, plunge the basket into boiling lard and cook until golden brown.
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.
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Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Cheese + saucetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,987 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,934 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cheese + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,253 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grated cheese
- Melts and adds richness, fat, and savory flavor to the filling.
- Grated bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the mixture body so the balls hold their shape.
- Egg
- Binds the cheese and crumbs together and sets when heated, holding the balls intact.
The step that matters
Frying in boiling lard until golden brown. Hot fat browns the outside quickly while the inside heats through. If the lard is not hot enough, the balls absorb more fat and turn greasy, and cooking them too long can dry or darken the cheese.
“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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