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Dessert

Gruere Fondu, or Ramakins

A light, airy soufflé made with Gruyère cheese, eggs, butter, cayenne pepper, and mustard flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Gruere Fondu, or Ramakins

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.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff.

Make the soufflé

  1. In another bowl, mix the Gruyère cheese, melted butter, cayenne, and mustard flour until well combined.

  2. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the cheese mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered soufflé dish or small paper cases.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until puffed and golden.

  2. Serve immediately while very hot.

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. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 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

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air, giving the soufflé its light, risen structure.
Gruyère cheese
Adds rich flavour and fat, and its proteins help set the baked structure.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the cheese base, softening its texture.
Flour of mustard
Adds a sharp, savoury note that balances the richness of the cheese and butter.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stirring instead of folding knocks out the air trapped in the whipped whites, so the soufflé will not rise well. Fold gently with a large spatula, cutting through and turning the mixture, until no white streaks remain.

Swap the mustard

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

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

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