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Cheese Toast

A toasted bread topped with a cheese and egg mixture, seasoned with mustard, cayenne, and salt.

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

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 Toast

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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 toast

  1. Toast the bread slices until golden brown.

  2. Cut the toasted slices into halves or small rounds.

Make the topping

  1. Mash the butter into the grated cheese.

  2. Season the cheese mixture with mustard, cayenne, and salt.

  3. Mix in the beaten egg.

  4. Spread the mixture about ½ inch thick on the toast.

Bake and serve

  1. Brown the toast under the grill or in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  2. Serve hot.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cheese
Melts and browns on top, giving the topping its rich, savory flavor.
Egg
Binds the cheese and butter mixture so it holds together on the toast.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the cheese and carries flavor into the topping.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavor that balances the richness of the cheese.

The step that matters

Brown the toast under the grill or in a 400°F (200°C) oven. Cheese proteins and fats brown and set quickly under high heat. Too little heat leaves the topping soft, while too much can scorch it before the center sets.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, cheese, pepper, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, cheese, pepper, butter. 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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