Why it works: Cheese and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,253 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pastry Ramakins
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the pastry
Gather leftover puff pastry and roll it out evenly.
Sprinkle the pastry with grated cheese.
Fold the pastry in thirds, roll it out again, and sprinkle more cheese.
Fold and roll out the pastry again, then cut into desired shapes.
Bake and serve
Optionally, brush the shapes with egg yolk before baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve immediately on a hot napkin.
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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Cheese + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,253 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leftover light puff pastry
- Its stacked layers of fat and dough puff apart in the oven, giving a flaky texture.
- Grated cheese
- Melts and browns during baking, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed on before baking, it promotes an even, glossy golden browning.
The step that matters
Folding and rolling the pastry again. Repeated folding creates the thin layers that make puff pastry rise and flake. Rolling too hard or unevenly can squeeze out the trapped fat and butter layers, reducing lift.
“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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