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Old-Fashioned Mac and Cheese

See how to make a cheesy, kid-friendly favorite.

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Old-Fashioned Mac and Cheese

Why it works: Cheddar cheese and swiss cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 80 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Old-Fashioned Mac and Cheese

6 to 8 servings
Prep20 min
Cook45 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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. Cheddar cheese + swiss cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together80 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + cheddar cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together984 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + swiss cheesetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together65 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Butter + swiss cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together413 recipes

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

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, pepper, cheese, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Mustardbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, pepper, cheese, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).