Why it works: Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 592 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
Cheese Straws
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
On a board, mix 2 oz. of flour with ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
Grate 2 oz. of Parmesan cheese and 1 oz. of Cheddar cheese.
Rub the grated cheese and 2 oz. of butter into the flour mixture.
Mix all ingredients with the yolk of 1 egg into a smooth, stiff paste.
Shape
Flour the board and a rolling pin, then roll out the paste to ⅛ inch thick and 5 inches wide.
Cut the paste into strips that are ⅛ inch wide and 5 inches long using a floured knife.
Use round cutters to cut small rings from the paste.
Grease a baking sheet with butter.
Bake and serve
Place the cheese straws and rings on the baking sheet and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.
Check occasionally to ensure they do not burn; they should be a pale brown when done.
Remove the cheese straws from the baking sheet and serve them through the rings like a bundle of sticks.
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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Parmesan cheese + cheddar cheesetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together592 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Butter + cheddar cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,436 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,322 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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
- Butter
- Adds fat that enriches the paste and gives the straws a short, tender texture.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the paste together when rolled and cut.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds savoury, salty flavour and helps the straws brown as they bake.
- Cheddar cheese
- Adds richness and cheesy flavour to the paste.
- Egg
- Binds the dough into a smooth, stiff paste that holds its shape.
The step that matters
Checking the bake. The straws are small and thin, so they can go from pale brown to burnt quickly. Checking during baking keeps them evenly golden and prevents bitter, scorched cheese flavour.
“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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