Skip to main content
Main

Macaroni with Tomatoes and Peppers

Baked macaroni with tomatoes, green pepper, butter, soda, milk, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Macaroni with Tomatoes and Peppers

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil 1 pound macaroni in salted water until done.

  2. Put the cooked macaroni into a baking dish.

Season and assemble

  1. Add 1 can tomatoes, a pinch of soda, 1 cup milk, and 1 large green pepper chopped.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Dot with 2 tablespoons butter in small bits.

Bake

  1. Bake in a slow oven for 1 hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

157Calories
0 gProtein
12 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. See the original page.

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. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni (in the method)
Forms the bulk and body of the dish, holding the sauce between its pieces.
Tomatoes (in the method)
Provide moisture and acidity that flavour the sauce as it bakes.
Milk (in the method)
Adds moisture and richness, thickening gently and softening the pasta as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the top brown and the dish taste rounded.
Baking soda
Lightly alters the tomato's acidity, softening its sharpness and deepening its colour.

The step that matters

Bake in a slow oven for 1 hour. A low, slow bake lets the milk and tomato liquid soak into the macaroni gradually. Too hot an oven can scorch the milk and dry the surface before the pasta is tender.

“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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes