Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Darioles of Parmesan
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Butter about ten small dariole moulds.
Roll out the pastry as thinly as possible and line the moulds.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour until smooth.
Add the milk and boil for three minutes.
Stir in the cheese, salt, pepper, and beaten eggs.
Bake and serve
Fill the moulds three-quarters full with the mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Carefully turn out and serve hot on lace paper.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,322 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Enriches the flour paste and adds richness to the filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the melted butter and milk into a smooth, set base.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a sauce.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the filling structure and a firm texture.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds savoury, salty flavour and a nutty aroma to the filling.
The step that matters
Fill the moulds three-quarters full. Overfilling can cause the mixture to spill over and bake unevenly, while underfilling leaves too little custard to set into a full shape.
“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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