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Cheese Custard Toast

A toasted bread topped with cheese and baked custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 Custard Toast

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Spread the butter on the bread.

  2. Cut the buttered bread into 1‑inch blocks.

  3. Select a small baking dish.

  4. Place the bread in the dish.

  5. Scatter the cheese over the top.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the eggs.

  2. Add the milk, salt, and cayenne pepper.

  3. Pour the mixture over the bread and cheese.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until the custard is set and the top is browned.

  2. Serve hot.

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

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

  5. Cheese + milktop 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 into a tender, sliceable structure as they cook.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and softness.
Sharp cheese
Adds rich flavor and melts into the custard, binding it to the bread.
Bread
Soaks up the custard and forms the body of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the bread brown on top.

The step that matters

Bake until the custard is just set. Egg proteins firm as they heat, so pulling the dish when the center is just set keeps the custard creamy. Baking too long makes it grainy and watery as the proteins squeeze out liquid.

“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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