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Cheese Ramekins

A baked cheese custard made with milk, bread crumbs, cheese, eggs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Ramekins

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.

Make the base

  1. Stir the browned bread crumbs into the milk and bring to a boil, then stir until smooth.

  2. Add the grated cheese and olive oil, stirring over heat for 1 minute.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Add the dry mustard, cayenne, salt, and egg yolks.

Fold and bake

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into an oiled baking dish.

  4. Bake for 10 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

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

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

  2. Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Bread + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites and yolks provide the airy structure that lifts and sets the mixture while baking.
Grated cheese
Melts into the base to add rich flavor and a savory, binding texture.
Browned bread crumbs
Thicken the milk into a body that holds the mixture together.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the crumbs soak up and the eggs set within.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites beaten to stiff peaks trap air that makes the soufflé-style mixture rise. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring or deflating the whites leaves a dense, flat result.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

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