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Macaroni As a Vegetable

A baked macaroni dish with eggs, cream, white meat, ham, and cheese, steamed in a buttered mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Macaroni As a Vegetable

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Simmer macaroni in plenty of water until tender but not broken.

  2. Strain off the water.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, combine egg yolks, egg whites, cream, white meat, ham, grated cheese, salt, and pepper.

  2. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly.

  3. Mix the heated mixture with the macaroni.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered mold.

  2. Steam for 1 hour.

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. Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Cream + cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 recipes

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

  3. Ham + cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together303 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Meat + cheesetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together564 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Enriches the mixture and helps it set into a firm, sliceable custard when heated.
Egg whites
Add structure as they set, giving the casserole a lighter, more open texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the custard soft rather than dry.
Macaroni
Forms the body of the casserole, holding the custard together in a solid mass.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and some fat, and helps the custard bind.

The step that matters

Heating the egg mixture over low heat. Eggs thicken at gentle temperatures but curdle if overheated. Stirring constantly and keeping the heat low spreads heat evenly so the custard turns smooth rather than grainy.

“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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