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Macaroni Au Gratin

A baked macaroni dish topped with Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, and melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Grease a small copper dish with a thin layer of butter.

  3. Fill the dish with macaroni, forming a dome about 2.5 inches high.

Top and cook

  1. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs on top.

  2. Drizzle the melted butter over the macaroni.

  3. Cover with a lid and cook on low heat for 40 minutes.

  4. If using broth instead of milk, follow the same method.

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).

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 structure of the dish, holding its dome shape while it cooks.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top brown as it melts over the macaroni.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the topping turn golden and slightly crisp.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden layer on top of the dish.

“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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