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 says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the base
Soak the bread crumbs in the sweet milk.
Mix the soaked crumbs with the eggs, melted butter, salt, pepper, and baking soda until it forms a soft paste.
Stir in the grated cheese and beat the mixture well.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish and sprinkle fine bread crumbs on top.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until puffed and delicately browned.
Serve immediately as it will fall and become heavy.
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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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 and give the baked fondue its puffed, airy structure.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the milk to form a soft paste that gives the fondue body.
- Cheese
- Adds rich flavour and firms the mixture as it bakes.
- Sweet milk
- Moistens the bread crumbs and keeps the mixture tender.
- Baking soda
- Lifts the mixture so it rises and puffs in the oven.
The step that matters
Serve immediately. The puffed structure set by the eggs and rising agent collapses as it cools, so the fondue falls and becomes dense if left waiting.
“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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