Name: Cheese Fritters
Ingredients: 3 oz cheese, grated; 2 teaspoons minced ham; 1 oz butter, softened; 3 tablespoons bread crumbs; 1 teaspoon dry mustard; a pinch of cayenne pepper; 1 egg yolk, beaten

Why it works: Butter and bread 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 Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix until smooth.
Shape the mixture into balls about the size of a walnut and flatten to ½ inch thick.
Dip each fritter in batter and fry until golden brown.
Drain on paper towels and serve hot on a folded napkin.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 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

Swap the mustard

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

Capsicumfits about as well
Asparagusfits about as well
Mustardthe original
Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, ham, butter, bread, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.