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A Mould of Spaghettina

A baked pasta dish of spaghettina in a cream cheese sauce topped with stewed tomatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

A Mould of Spaghettina

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the spaghettina

  1. Put 3/4 cup spaghettina, broken into small pieces, into a quart of boiling water with 1 tablespoon salt.

  2. Boil for half an hour.

  3. Drain the water and add 1 cup milk to the spaghettina, cook nearly half an hour until the milk is almost all absorbed.

Make the sauce and mould

  1. In a saucepan, heat 1 cup milk.

  2. Rub butter the size of an egg into a slightly heaping tablespoonful of flour, adding a little warm milk, then stir into the milk on the fire.

  3. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

  4. Add 2 tablespoons grated cheese.

  5. When the sauce thickens, turn the spaghettina into the sauce.

  6. Let the mixture come to a boil.

  7. Turn out onto a dish and let cool, then add 1 egg beaten light.

  8. Butter a border mould that holds a little more than a pint and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

  9. Turn the mixture into the mould.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the mould in a pan of hot water and bake in a moderate oven for twenty-five minutes.

  2. Prepare a pint of stewed tomatoes seasoned to taste, thickened with breadcrumbs and a good tablespoon of butter.

  3. Turn the spaghettina mould onto a platter.

  4. Fill the center with stewed tomatoes.

  5. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

470Calories
23 gProtein
34 gFat
19 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

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

By Henrietta Latham Dwight. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  4. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 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

Spaghettina
Forms the body of the casserole, giving it a soft, tender bite once cooked.
Milk
Cooks into the pasta and sauce, adding moisture and a creamy texture.
Butter and flour
Flour thickens the sauce, while butter adds richness and smoothness.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the sauce set richer as it cooks.
Egg
Binds the mixture so it holds its shape when turned out of the mould.

The step that matters

Let the mixture come to a boil after thickening the sauce. Flour thickens only when heated enough to swell its starch, so the sauce must reach a boil to reach full body. Cooling before adding the egg keeps the beaten egg from scrambling in the hot sauce.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, cheese, egg, pepper. 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.

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