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Macaroni Au Parmesan

A baked macaroni dish with béchamel, Parmesan, spices, and clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Macaroni Au Parmesan

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.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni in water with butter until tender.

  2. Drain and place the macaroni in cold water, then cut into half-inch lengths.

  3. Dry the macaroni with a cloth and mix with béchamel sauce, Parmesan cheese, salt, cayenne, white pepper, and mustard.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the required cases with the mixture and sprinkle with additional grated Parmesan.

  2. Drizzle a little clarified butter over the Parmesan.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until light golden color.

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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Sauce + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk and body of the dish, giving it a chewy, substantial bite.
Béchamel sauce
Adds creamy moisture that binds the macaroni and keeps the filling from drying out.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and helps form a golden, browned crust when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and clarified butter helps the top brown evenly.

The step that matters

Bake until light golden. Baking only until light golden keeps the cheese from scorching and the filling from drying out, while still browning the Parmesan topping through the Maillard reaction.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce, parmesan cheese, pepper, mustard):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, parmesan cheese, pepper, mustard. 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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