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Cheese Balls

Cheese balls are small fried balls made from grated cheese, flour, egg, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Cheese Balls

Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cheese Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Mix grated cheese, flour, and egg yolk in a bowl.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.

  3. Whisk egg white until stiff, then fold into mixture.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat frying fat in a deep pan.

  2. Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls into hot fat and fry until golden brown.

  3. Drain on paper towels and serve in a pyramid shape on a folded napkin.

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.

  1. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cheddar cheese + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cheddar cheese + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,016 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cheddar cheese + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cheshire or cheddar cheese
Provides the main cheese flavour and fat that gives the balls their rich taste.
All-purpose flour
Gives the mixture body so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Egg
Binds the mixture and, once the white is whisked, adds lightness and a airy texture.

The step that matters

Whisk egg white until stiff, then fold into mixture. Stiff egg white traps air that lightens the batter; over-mixing or deflating it makes the balls dense and heavy after frying.

“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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