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Cheese Fondu

A dish of melted cheese mixed with eggs, baked or fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 Fondu

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Dissolve the cheese in a bowl.

  2. Beat the eggs together.

  3. Add the beaten eggs to the cheese mixture, stirring well.

Bake in the dish

  1. Grease a shallow metal or earthenware dish with butter.

  2. Heat the dish until the butter sizzles.

  3. Pour the mixture into the dish.

  4. Bake or fry until nearly solidified.

  5. Add bread crumbs to the mixture.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + breadtop 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. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set as they heat, giving the fondue its firm, sliceable structure.
Cheese
Melts into the mixture, adding richness, savory flavor and a creamy texture.
Butter
Greases the dish to prevent sticking and adds richness and browning at the edges.

The step that matters

Bake or fry until nearly solidified. The egg proteins set as they heat. Stopping when the mixture is nearly set lets residual heat finish it, while overcooking makes the eggs tight, rubbery and dry.

“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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