Name: Macaroni with Tomatoes and Peppers
Ingredients: ½ pound macaroni; Salt (to taste); 1 can tomatoes; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; ½ cup milk; 1 large green pepper, chopped; Coarse sea salt (to taste); Black pepper (to taste); 2 tablespoons butter

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 ↓

Macaroni with Tomatoes and Peppers

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Boil the macaroni in salted water until done.
Transfer the macaroni to a baking dish.

Assemble

Add the tomatoes, baking soda, milk, and chopped green pepper.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Dot with small bits of butter.

Bake

Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 30 minutes.

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

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,226 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,918 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni: Forms the starchy body of the dish, holding the sauce together when baked.
Tomatoes: Provide acidity and liquid that flavour the dish and keep it moist as it bakes.
Baking soda: Raises the pH of the tomatoes, mellowing their acidity and helping the mixture brown.
Milk: Adds moisture and richness, softening the dish and mellowing the tomato sharpness.
Butter: Adds fat that enriches the flavour and helps the top brown in the oven.