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Baked Macaroni, with Cheese

A baked pasta dish with macaroni, cheese, white sauce, and buttered breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Baked Macaroni, with Cheese

Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Baked Macaroni, with Cheese

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.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Cook the macaroni in boiling salted water for 20 minutes.

  2. Drain and rinse the macaroni in cold water.

Make the sauce

  1. Make a white sauce by melting butter, adding flour, and gradually whisking in the milk until thickened.

  2. Season the sauce with salt.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a buttered baking dish, layer cooked macaroni and grated cheese, repeating until all ingredients are used.

  2. Pour the white sauce over the top.

  3. Cover with buttered bread crumbs.

  4. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

  3. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Bread + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,383 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Macaroni
Forms the bulk and structure of the baked dish.
Grated cheese
Melts into the sauce to add richness and savory flavor.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a white sauce that binds the dish.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, adding moisture and creaminess.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden browned topping during baking.

The step that matters

Make the white sauce. Flour must be fully incorporated and the milk added gradually while whisking, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps. Stirring keeps starch granules dispersed so they swell evenly as the sauce heats.

“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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