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Melted Cheese

A toasted bread topped with a mixture of grated cheese, egg yolks, bread, butter, mustard, salt, and pepper, then heated until melted.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Melted Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the topping

  1. In a bowl, mix the grated cheese, egg yolks, grated bread, butter, mustard, salt, and pepper until well combined.

Toast and top

  1. Toast the slices of bread until golden brown.

  2. Spread the cheese mixture thickly on the toasted bread.

Heat and serve

  1. Place the bread in a Dutch oven covered with a dish and heat until hot throughout.

  2. Remove the dish and allow the cheese to brown slightly.

  3. Serve immediately while 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. Bread + buttertop 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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 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
Melts into a rich, gooey layer that forms the body of the topping.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and add richness and a smooth, custard-like texture when heated.
Grated bread
Absorbs fat and moisture from the cheese and butter, giving the topping body.
Butter
Adds fat for smooth melting and helps the topping brown lightly.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavour that balances the richness of the cheese and butter.

The step that matters

Remove the dish and allow the cheese to brown slightly. Egg yolks and cheese can turn grainy or dry if overheated, and the browning depends on close attention. Watching the topping lets it brown lightly while staying smooth and soft.

Swap the mustard

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, egg, bread, butter, 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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