Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Fondue
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the base
Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the butter and stir until melted.
Gradually mix in enough flour to thicken the mixture to the consistency of hasty pudding.
Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
Stir in the grated parmesan cheese, egg yolks, pepper, and mustard until well combined.
Bake and serve
Transfer the mixture to a fondue dish.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold them into the mixture.
Do not fill the dish to the top, as the fondue will rise during baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden and puffed.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts and puffs the fondue as it bakes.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and help it set into a custard-like texture when heated.
- Parmesan cheese
- Provides rich, savory flavor and body that firms as the fondue bakes.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk and butter mixture so it holds its shape before baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and smooth texture in the base.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens and the eggs set.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites beaten to stiff peaks hold air, which lifts the fondue as it bakes. Overmixing or deflating them during folding makes the result dense and flat.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, flour, parmesan cheese, egg, pepper):
- Asparagusfits better
- Potatofits better
- Spinachfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, flour, parmesan cheese, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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