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Cheese Fondu

A baked cheese dish made with bread crumbs, milk, eggs, butter, cheese, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

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.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk.

  2. Stir in the beaten eggs, melted butter, salt, pepper, and dissolved baking soda.

  3. Add the grated cheese to the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter a baking dish and pour the mixture into it.

  2. Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.

  4. Serve immediately in the same dish.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Eggs
Set the custard-like mixture and give it structure as they cook.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the milk and add body, giving the fondue a soft, tender texture.
Cheese
Melts into the mixture, adding richness, flavor and a creamy texture.
Milk
Provides the liquid that sets with the eggs and softens the bread crumbs.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until golden brown. Baking is stopped at golden brown because the eggs set as they heat. Overbaking can make the custard dry and rubbery, while underbaking leaves it loose in the centre.

“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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