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Molded Macaroni

A baked macaroni casserole with cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, milk, butter, peppers, nuts, onion, parsley, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Molded Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan and add the bread crumbs and butter.

  2. Once slightly cooled, stir in the beaten eggs, followed by the cheese, pimentos, nuts, onion, parsley, and salt.

Mold and steam

  1. Grease a one-pound baking powder can and fill it with the mixture.

  2. Place the can in a pot of water, ensuring water circulates under and around the can.

  3. Cover the pot and steam for one hour.

  4. Remove the can from the pot.

Serve

  1. Slice the molded macaroni.

  2. Serve with tomato sauce.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set when gently heated, binding the mixture into a firm, sliceable loaf.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the warm milk and add body, keeping the loaf moist and tender.
Milk
Provides moisture that softens the crumbs and keeps the set custard tender.
Cheese
Adds savory flavour and richness to the loaf.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Steam gently with water circulating around the can. Egg proteins set gently in moist, moderate heat. Surrounding the can with steady water keeps the temperature even, so the loaf sets smoothly rather than becoming rubbery, cracked, or porous.

Swap the nuts

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Walnutfits better
  3. Peasfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

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