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 ↓
Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan.
Add the sifted flour and whisk until smooth.
Gradually whisk in the milk until the sauce thickens.
Stir in the powdered dry mustard and grated cheese until blended.
Combine and bake
Cook the macaroni in boiling water until al dente, then drain.
Combine the macaroni with the cheese sauce and mix well.
Pour the mixture into three baking pans (about 12 by 20 by 2 inches).
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour or until the top is brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + cheesetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
What each ingredient does
- Butter or margarine
- Adds fat that enriches the sauce and carries flavor.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the sauce with starch as it cooks, giving it body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens as the starch swells.
- Grated cheese
- Provides the main savory flavor and helps the sauce turn rich and creamy.
- Macaroni
- Forms the bulk of the dish, holding the sauce within its pasta shapes.
The step that matters
Gradually whisk in the milk until the sauce thickens. Adding milk slowly while whisking keeps the flour evenly dispersed, preventing lumps. Starch needs to heat fully to thicken the sauce properly.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, cheese):
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, 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.
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