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Cheese Borek

"The usual filling is feta cheese; this version calls for smoked Gouda and Emmenthal. If you have never worked with phyllo before, know that it is very fragile and must be kept covered or it will dry out very quickly. This is labor-intensive, but worth it. I like to divide the filling ahead of time into 48 equal little portions to ensure that all the borek are uniform in size. This may be made a day before they are baked, and stored covered in the refrigerator."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,955 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

The recipe

48 stuffed triangles
Prep1 hr
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. In a bowl, mix the lightly beaten egg, minced parsley, minced garlic, crushed red pepper, smoked Gouda and finely shredded Emmentaler until evenly combined.

  2. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

  3. Stack the phyllo sheets on a dry work surface and cover them with a damp towel so they do not dry out. Cut the stack lengthwise into four strips per sheet, for 48 strips.

  4. Take one strip and brush it lightly with melted butter. Place a small spoonful of the cheese filling at one short end.

  5. Fold the corner over the filling to make a triangle, then keep folding along the strip like a flag, brushing each fold with butter. Tuck in the end.

  6. Set the triangles seam side down on the baking sheets, spaced apart, and brush the tops with more melted butter. Repeat with the remaining strips and filling.

  7. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and crisp, and the filling reaches 160°F (71°C) in the center because it contains raw egg.

  8. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes before serving warm.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cheese + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together7,955 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together9,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Garlic + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,044 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Parsley + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together28,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parsley, pepper, cheese, phyllo dough, butter):

  1. Thymebetter flavor fit
  2. Dillbetter flavor fit
  3. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, pepper, cheese, phyllo dough, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).