Name: Low-cal Macaroni Bake
Ingredients: 2 cup macaroni, cooked; 1 each onion, chopped; 2 tbsp margarine; 1/4 cup flour; 2 cup skimmed milk; 2 tsp dill weed; 2 tsp parsley; 1/8 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp pepper; 2 cup low fat cottage cheese; 1/3 cup bread crumbs; 1 pinch paprika

Why it works: Dill and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 669 recipes. Both carry p-mentha-1,3,8-triene, which smells camphor, herbal. The science ↓

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.

Dill + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together669 recipes

Shared aroma: p-mentha-1,3,8-triene (camphor, herbal).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Dill + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,630 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni: Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it a hearty, starchy body.
Flour: Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that binds the dish together.
Skimmed milk: Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which sets as it thickens and bakes.
Low fat cottage cheese: Adds creamy moisture and body to the baked dish.
Margarine: Adds fat for sauteing the onions and carries their flavor into the sauce.
Bread crumbs: Form a crisp, lightly browned topping in the oven.

The step that matters

Stirring in the milk a little at a time. Adding milk gradually while stirring lets the flour disperse evenly and hydrate fully, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps. Adding it all at once can clump the flour and leave a thin, uneven sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, dill, parsley, garlic, pepper, cottage cheese):

Spinachfits better
Chivefits better
Potatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, dill, parsley, garlic, pepper, cottage cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Skimmed Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cottage Cheese	1/2 cup (113g) 2%	98
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Macaroni	not in our table	0

Low-cal Macaroni Bake