Name: Easy Lasagna
Ingredients: 2 Boxes Noodles -- No Bake; 5 Tablespoons Butter; 5 Tablespoons Flour; 4 Cups Milk; 1 Large Onion Diced; 3 14oz Cans Crushed Tomatoes; Cheese Blend

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Easy Lasagna

Ingredients

Directions

Flour/Butter Rue, add Milk (basic bechamel), bring to boil, remove from heat.
Fry Onions in a olive oil, 1/2 cup, add tomatoes when clear, cook 10 minutes
Let cool 5 minutes then combine 1 & 2.
Layer Noodles, 1/2+ Cup sauce and 1/2+ cup cheese.
Makes 2 pans. Bake 20 minutes, foil for first 18.
Let sit just 5 minutes, then eat.
Sorry this is not an exact recipe, I vary it. You should know how to make a rue and bechamel -- easy just look it up. Make sure the no bake noodles are mostly 90% covered so they cook. If you use too little, they will be crunchy. I use Pizza cheese blend and Romano. Note, no ricotta.
Variation: Add meatballs (crushed) in bottom layer.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

885Calories

30 gProtein

30 gFat

122 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the tomato

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

Potatofits better
Chivefits better
Mustardfits about as well
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, onion, cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.