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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line a small dish with puff pastry.
Make the custard
In a bowl, mix the grated cheese, eggs, clarified butter, cream, and bread crumbs.
Season with mustard, salt, and pepper.
Pour the mixture into the lined dish.
Bake and serve
Bake until set and golden brown.
Serve warm.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cheshire cheese
- Provides the main flavour and, as it melts and sets, the body of the filling.
- Eggs
- Set when baked, giving the pudding its firm, custard-like structure.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, keeping the filling smooth rather than dry.
- Clarified butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the filling brown evenly in the oven.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb some of the liquid and help the filling hold its shape as it sets.
The step that matters
Bake until set and golden brown. Egg proteins set with heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny while overbaking makes it dry and grainy. Look for a firm centre and an even golden top.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, egg, butter, cream, bread, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, egg, butter, cream, bread, pepper. 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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