Name: Cheese Fondu
Ingredients: ½ pound sifted flour; 3 eggs; ½ pound grated Gruyere cheese; ½ pound grated Parmesan cheese; ½ pound butter; ⅓ cup milk or cream; Pinch of grated nutmeg; Salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Gruyere cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cheese Fondu

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Stir in the flour and mix thoroughly.
Add the boiling milk and stir, cooking for about 2 minutes until very thick.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Finish and bake

Work in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cheeses until well combined.
Butter a pudding dish or several small souffle cases.
Beat the egg whites until very stiff and fold them into the mixture.
Fill the dish with the mixture and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve immediately; do not let the dish stand.

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.

Gruyere cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together152 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Whipped whites trap air that lifts the soufflé as it bakes, and yolks add richness and set structure.
Flour: Cooked with butter and milk, it forms a thick roux that gives the base body and holds the rise.
Gruyere cheese: Melts into the base, adding savoury flavour and helping the structure set.
Parmesan cheese: Adds sharp, savoury depth and concentrated flavour to the base.
Butter: Enriches the base and carries flavour, and greasing the dish helps the soufflé rise evenly.
Milk: Hydrates the flour to form a thick sauce base that gives the soufflé its moisture.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until very stiff and fold them into the mixture. Whites beaten to a stiff foam trap air that expands in the oven to lift the soufflé. Overbeaten whites turn grainy and deflate, while underbeaten whites cannot hold the rise, so the folding must be gentle to keep the air.

“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.