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 ↓
Parmesan Toast
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the topping
Knead the grated Parmesan cheese with the butter and cayenne pepper to form a paste.
Assemble and bake
Toast the slice of bread slightly on both sides.
Butter one side of the toast and spread the cheese paste on the other side.
Place the toast in a cheese toaster or Dutch oven and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 12 minutes.
Serve
Serve on a hot dish.
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).
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Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,322 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Parmesan cheese + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together577 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 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
- Parmesan cheese
- Melts and browns on the toast, adding savory, salty flavor and a crisp golden top.
- Butter
- Binds the cheese into a paste and adds richness and moisture to the toast.
- Bread
- Forms the base that holds the cheese topping and crisps under the heat.
The step that matters
Baking the cheese paste. Baking until the cheese just melts and turns golden matters, since too little heat leaves it soft and too much can scorch the cheese and dry the bread.
“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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