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Italian Macaroni

A simple pasta dish of macaroni cooked in salted water and finished with unsalted creamy butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Italian Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

  2. Add the macaroni and cook until al dente, according to package instructions.

  3. Drain the macaroni and return it to the pot.

Finish and serve

  1. Add unsalted creamy butter and stir until melted and well combined.

  2. Serve hot, garnished with your choice of herbs or flowers.

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Provides the starchy pasta base that holds and carries the butter.
Unsalted creamy butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, glossy coating on the pasta.

The step that matters

Cook the macaroni until al dente. Pasta keeps softening from residual heat after draining, so pulling it while still firm to the bite prevents a mushy texture. Overcooked pasta also absorbs butter unevenly and loses its bite.

“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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