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Italian Cheese and Macaroni

A baked pasta dish of macaroni, tomatoes, onion, cheese, egg, and milk, seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Italian Cheese and Macaroni

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Boil macaroni in 3 quarts of water for 20 minutes, then rinse with cold water.

  2. Grease a baking dish with butter and layer in the macaroni.

Make the sauce

  1. In a bowl, mix onion, tomatoes, salt, pepper, paprika, and ½ cup hot milk.

  2. Add cheese and beaten egg to the mixture, then pour over the macaroni.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 25 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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  4. Cheese + milktop 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

Macaroni
Forms the bulk and structure of the baked dish, holding its shape when cut and served.
Tomatoes
Provide moisture and acidity that flavour the sauce and keep the dish juicy.
Cheese
Melts into the sauce and browns on top, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Egg
Sets when baked, binding the sauce and helping it hold together.
Milk
Adds moisture and body to the sauce, mellowing the tomato acidity.
Butter
Greases the dish and adds fat for richer flavour and a golden surface.

The step that matters

Pouring the sauce over the macaroni. Pour the mixture evenly so every layer is coated; uneven coverage leaves dry pasta on top and wet pockets below. Adding the beaten egg to the cooled mixture helps prevent it curdling and scrambling.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

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