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Pontifical Macaroni

A baked macaroni casserole with chicken, ham, liver, mushrooms, eggs, breadcrumbs, and broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Pontifical Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mold

  1. Boil the macaroni or spaghetti in salted water for 15 minutes, then drain.

  2. Butter a mold and line it with the cooked macaroni.

Fill and bake

  1. In the center, layer the chicken, ham, liver, mushrooms, eggs, breadcrumbs, herbs, salt, and pepper.

  2. Pour the chicken broth over the mixture.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

Serve

  1. Turn out onto a serving dish and serve with your choice of sauce.

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. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Mushroom + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,231 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni or spaghetti
Forms the outer shell that holds the filling together when turned out.
Butter
Greases the mold so the pasta releases cleanly and adds richness to the crust.
Chicken
Provides the main savory, protein-rich filling that gives the dish its body.
Ham
Adds salty, cured meat flavor to the filling.
Eggs
Set during baking to bind the filling into a sliceable mass.
Breadcrumbs
Soak up liquid and help the filling hold together as it bakes.

The step that matters

Pouring the chicken broth over the filling. Too little broth leaves the breadcrumbs and eggs dry, while the liquid gently moistens and binds the filling as it bakes in the pasta-lined mold.

“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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