Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cheese Funder
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make and bake
In a mixing bowl, combine the grated cheese, bread crumbs, milk, beaten eggs, pepper, salt, and mustard.
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish.
Bake for 1½ hours.
Serve
Serve hot for lunch.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set into a custard-like pudding as they cook.
- Grated cheese
- Adds rich flavor and fat, and firms up as the pudding bakes.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the milk and egg, giving the pudding body and a softer texture.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that combines with the eggs to form a creamy custard.
The step that matters
Bake for 1½ hours. Eggs set through heat, so the pudding must bake long enough to firm in the centre. Underbaking leaves it runny, while overbaking can make it dry and rubbery.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, bread, milk, egg, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, bread, milk, egg, 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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