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Pastitsio

"Pastitsio is a layered Greek casserole of macaroni and seasoned ground lamb, topped with a thick cream sauce. This version substitutes beef in place of the lamb to suit American tastes."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 11,917 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

The recipe

15 servings
Prep45 min
Cook1 hr 10 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • Meat Layer
  • Macaroni Layer
  • Cream Sauce Layer

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Melt the 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the chopped onion until soft, about 5 minutes.

  2. Add the ground beef and cook over medium-high heat, breaking it up, until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C). Drain off excess fat.

  3. Stir in the 3/4 cup water, tomato paste, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, pepper, allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, then let cool slightly.

  4. Stir the 2 beaten eggs from the meat layer into the cooled meat mixture.

  5. Heat a large pot of boiling water over high heat. Cook the macaroni until just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes, then drain well.

  6. Toss the hot macaroni with the melted butter, the 2 beaten eggs from the macaroni layer, and half of the Parmesan. Spread half of this mixture in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.

  7. Spread the meat mixture evenly over the macaroni, then top with the remaining macaroni mixture.

  8. For the cream sauce, whisk the flour into the half-and-half in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the salt and a little nutmeg.

  9. Slowly whisk a small amount of the hot sauce into the 4 well-beaten eggs to warm them, then whisk the eggs back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring, until thickened and it reaches 160°F (71°C). Stir in the remaining Parmesan.

  10. Pour the cream sauce over the macaroni. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 35 to 40 minutes until golden and set. Cool 15 minutes before cutting.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Onion + beeftop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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, beef, tomato, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, beef, tomato, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon. 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).