Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Cheese Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Mix butter, flour, salt, and sugar together, then add to milk.
Place in a double boiler and cook until thick.
Remove from heat, cool to lukewarm, and add beaten egg yolks and cottage cheese.
Add cinnamon and nutmeg or mace, and mix well.
Bake and serve
Pour mixture into a lined pie pan and bake like a custard pie.
Make a meringue with the 3 egg whites and spread on the baked pie.
Return pie to the oven to bake the meringue for about 12 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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture so the filling sets smooth and firm rather than runny.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and set the filling, while whites whip into the meringue topping.
- Cottage cheese
- Provides the main body and tangy, creamy flavour of the filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour to the thickened custard base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue brown lightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Cool the custard to lukewarm before adding the eggs and cottage cheese. Adding beaten egg yolks to a very hot mixture can scramble them into lumps. Cooling first lets them blend in smoothly and keeps the filling silky.
“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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