Name: Cheese Beignets
Ingredients: 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese; 1 teaspoon mustard; Salt to taste; Cayenne pepper to taste; Hot lard for frying

Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cheese Beignets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare a choux pastry according to recipe No. 980.
Season the pastry with grated Parmesan, mustard, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Form the mixture into small balls.
Fry the balls in hot lard until they are light and cooked through.
Drain on paper towels and serve with a dusting of Parmesan.

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.

Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Parmesan cheese + mustardtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together545 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).