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Cheese Fondu

A baked cheese fondue made with flour, eggs, Gruyère, Parmesan, butter, milk, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Gruyere cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cheese Fondu

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. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Stir in the flour and mix thoroughly.

  3. Add the boiling milk and stir, cooking for about 2 minutes until very thick.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  5. Work in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cheese until well combined.

Bake and serve

  1. Prepare a buttered pudding dish or several small soufflé cases.

  2. Beat the egg whites until very stiff and fold them into the mixture.

  3. Fill the dish halfway with the mixture and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.

  4. Serve immediately; this dish should not stand.

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. Gruyere cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together152 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks enrich the base while whipped whites give the soufflé its light, risen structure.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a stable base that holds the soufflé up.
Gruyere cheese
Provides rich, savoury flavour and melts smoothly into the base.
Parmesan cheese
Adds sharp, savoury depth and helps the flavour stand out after baking.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the roux that starts the base.
Milk or cream
Hydrates the flour and sets the base into a thick, smooth sauce.

The step that matters

Fold the whipped egg whites gently. Whites trapped in the batter expand in the oven and create the rise. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles intact, while overmixing deflates them and leaves a dense result.

“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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