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Dessert

Boman Cheese

A cheese custard made with milk, corn starch, egg yolks, and grated cheese, baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,426 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Boman Cheese

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.

Make the base

  1. In a saucepan, melt the fat over medium heat.

  2. Whisk in the corn starch and salt, then gradually add the milk.

  3. Cook for 5 minutes until thickened, stirring constantly.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in the egg yolks and half of the cheese.

Set and shape

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased shallow pan and let it cool.

  2. Once cooled, cut into shapes with a cookie cutter or knife.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the pieces on a platter, cover with the remaining cheese, and bake at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

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.

  1. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  2. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Corn + cheesetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together880 recipes

    Shared aroma: butanoic acid ethyl ester (sweet).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,484 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Corn starch
Thickens the milk into a firm custard that holds its shape when cooled.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help set the mixture as it cools.
Cheese
Adds flavor and melts, then browns on top during baking.
Skimmed milk
Forms the liquid base that the starch thickens.
Fat or oil
Carries flavor and keeps the mixture smooth and tender.

The step that matters

Cooking the base until thickened. Corn starch only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a simmer and is stirred constantly, so stopping early leaves a thin base that will not set firmly when cooled and cut.

“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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