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Cheese Fondu

A baked cheese mixture made with butter, flour, eggs, cheese, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cheese Fondu

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour over medium heat.

  2. Add the grated cheese and stir for 20 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.

  3. Beat the egg yolks and add them to the cooled mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the mixture just before baking.

  2. Pour the mixture into a silver fondue dish or a round cake tin lined with frilled paper.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 45 minutes.

  4. Serve hot, as it will fall while cooling.

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.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air for lift, and yolks add richness and help set the custard.
Butter
Fat that carries flavor and gives the base a rich, tender texture.
Flour
Thickens the melted butter into a roux that gives the mixture body and structure.
Grated cheese
Adds the main flavor and fat, and helps the mixture set as it bakes.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the base so it bakes into a soft, custardy texture.

The step that matters

Fold the egg whites in just before baking. Whipped whites hold the air that makes the fondue rise. If they are folded in too early or overmixed, they deflate and the fondue loses its lift and softness.

“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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