Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
A Fondu
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.
Make the base
Mix the potato flour with ½ cup of new milk to form a smooth batter.
Pour in ¾ cup of boiling milk or cream and stir well.
Add the small pieces of butter and mix until melted.
Incorporate the well-whisked yolks of the eggs, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Stir in the grated cheese until combined.
Bake
Whisk the egg whites to a firm froth.
Gently fold the whisked egg whites into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a firm froth, they lighten the mixture and give the fondue its risen, airy structure.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and emulsify the base, and their proteins help set the baked mixture.
- Potato flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth batter that gives the fondue body.
- Grated cheese
- Provides savoury flavour and fat, and melts into the base to give it richness.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and giving a smooth, tender texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only while whipped; overmixing or stirring them in deflates the foam and the fondue will not rise. Fold gently, keeping as much air as possible.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, butter, egg, pepper, cheese):
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, butter, egg, pepper, cheese. 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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