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Dessert

Biscuits Conde

A biscuit topped with a mixture of egg yolk, Parmesan, mustard, cayenne, and salt, baked until hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and biscuit match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 121 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Biscuits Conde

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the topping

  1. Beat the egg yolk until thick.

  2. Mix in the grated Parmesan cheese.

  3. Add mustard, cayenne, and salt to taste.

Bake and serve

  1. Spread the mixture on lightly buttered water biscuits.

  2. Bake for a few minutes until hot.

  3. Serve immediately.

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. Mustard + biscuittop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together121 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Pepper + biscuittop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together841 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolk
Binds the topping and adds richness so it spreads smoothly and sets slightly when heated.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and browns and firms as it heats.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavor that balances the richness of the yolk and cheese.

The step that matters

Bake until just hot. The topping is mostly egg yolk, which can curdle or dry out if overheated. Baking only until hot keeps it smooth and creamy while the cheese softens.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parmesan cheese, pepper, biscuit, butter. 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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