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 ↓
Cheese and Macaroni
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the white sauce
Make a white sauce by combining milk, flour, butter, salt, and pepper in a saucepan over medium heat until thickened.
Assemble and bake
In a buttered baking dish, layer the macaroni and cheese alternately.
Pour the white sauce over the layers.
If desired, sprinkle buttered crumbs on top.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes, or until the crumbs are brown.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Macaroni
- Forms the bulk and structure of the dish, holding the sauce between layers.
- Cheese
- Adds rich flavor and melts into the sauce to make it creamy and savory.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk and butter into a smooth white sauce.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, giving it body and creaminess.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the sauce and helps it cook smoothly.
The step that matters
Thickening the white sauce. Flour must be cooked with the butter and milk over medium heat until thickened, or the sauce stays thin and can taste raw. Stirring keeps it smooth and prevents lumps from forming.
“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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