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Cheese Sandwiches

A cheese sandwich made by baking a cheese mixture between buttered bread slices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cheese sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine grated cheese, milk, beaten egg, butter, and cornstarch.

  2. Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick.

Assemble and brown

  1. Cut bread into neat round slices and butter one side of each slice.

  2. Spread the cheese mixture on the unbuttered side of the bread.

  3. Brown the sandwiches in a pan with butter on both sides.

  4. Serve 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Grated cheese
Melts into the sauce to give the filling its flavor and body.
Egg
Helps thicken the sauce as it cooks and adds richness.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk and cheese mixture into a smooth, spreadable filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, carrying the cheese and thickeners.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor, and browns the outside of the sandwiches.

The step that matters

Heat the sauce until thick, stirring constantly. Cheese and egg in milk can scorch or curdle if overheated or left unstirred, and cornstarch needs to be heated fully to thicken. Constant stirring over medium heat keeps the sauce smooth and sets it to a spreadable consistency.

“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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