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 ↓
Baked Maccaroni
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Break the macaroni into 1-inch pieces and boil in salted water for 20 minutes until soft but not broken.
Drain the macaroni.
Layer and bake
Layer the macaroni in a well-buttered dish, sprinkling grated cheese, pepper, and bits of butter between each layer.
Once the dish is full, pour the milk or cream over the top.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes and serve in the baking dish.
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
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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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,861 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 structure of the dish, holding its shape when sliced and served.
- Grated cheese
- Melts into the layers, adding savoury flavour and binding the pasta together.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, coating the pasta and helping the dish brown lightly.
- Milk or cream
- Supplies moisture that softens the pasta and forms a creamy sauce as it bakes.
The step that matters
Boil the macaroni until soft but not broken. Pasta keeps softening in the oven, so stopping at tender but firm prevents a mushy result after baking.
“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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