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 ↓
English Monkey
Ingredients
Directions
Combine stale bread crumbs and milk in a bowl.
Let the mixture soak for a few minutes.
Add the soft milk cheese cubes, butter, cayenne pepper, and salt, and mix the ingredients well.
Transfer the mixture to a chafing dish.
Heat until warmed through, stirring occasionally.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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
- Stale bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk to form a soft, spoonable base for the mixture.
- Milk
- Softens the bread crumbs and adds moisture to the finished dish.
- Soft milk cheese
- Melts when heated, giving the mixture a creamy, rich texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Heat until warmed through, stirring occasionally. Cheese can turn greasy or stringy if overheated. Gentle heat with frequent stirring keeps the mixture smooth and evenly warmed.
“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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