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Something for Lunch

A toasted bread sandwich made with a smooth cheese and butter mixture flavored with mustard, cayenne, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Something for Lunch

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the cheese mixture

  1. Break the cheese into bits and pound it with the butter until smooth.

  2. Add the egg yolks, mustard, cayenne, and salt; mix well.

Assemble and bake

  1. Toast the bread slices.

  2. Spread the cheese mixture on the toasted bread.

  3. Place the bread in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 5 minutes.

  4. Serve immediately.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Cheese
Melts into the topping and provides the main savory, rich flavor.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the cheese mixture smooth and spreadable and carries flavor.
Egg yolks
Bind the cheese and butter into a smooth, creamy mixture that sets lightly when baked.
Bread
Forms the base that holds the topping and crisps as it toasts.

The step that matters

Place the bread in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 5 minutes. Egg yolks in the topping can overcook and turn grainy or dry if heated too long, while the cheese needs enough heat to melt and set. Watching the topping closely keeps it creamy.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, butter, egg, pepper, bread. 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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