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 ↓
Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a medium oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the sauce
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux.
Gradually add the milk, stirring until the mixture thickens.
Cook the macaroni
Boil the macaroni until tender, then drain.
Assemble and bake
Mix the macaroni with the sauce and pour into a baking dish.
Bake for 30 minutes.
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.
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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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Flour
- Starch thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, body-giving sauce.
- Butter
- Fat that forms the roux base and adds richness to the sauce.
- Milk
- Liquid that hydrates the flour starch to form the creamy sauce.
- Macaroni
- Pasta provides the main structure and bulk of the dish.
The step that matters
Adding the milk gradually. Flour starch swells as it heats in liquid. Adding milk slowly while stirring lets the starch disperse evenly, so the sauce thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps.
“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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