Name: Macaroni Pudding to Be Made of Cooked Meat
Ingredients: ½ cup cooked ham, minced; ½ cup cooked chicken, minced; ¼ cup macaroni, boiled tender in broth; 2 large eggs, beaten; 1 ounce butter; cayenne pepper, to taste; coarse sea salt, to taste

Why it works: Ham and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Macaroni Pudding to Be Made of Cooked Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Mix the minced ham and chicken together.
Weigh out the boiled macaroni and add it to the meat mixture.
Stir in the beaten eggs, butter, cayenne pepper, and salt until well combined.

Cook

Transfer the mixture into a mold or basin.
Boil for 2 hours, ensuring the macaroni remains in long pieces.

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.

Ham + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,497 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,902 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,958 recipes

Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the meat and macaroni together and set into a firm, sliceable pudding when heated.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding from drying out as it cooks.
Macaroni: Adds body and a starchy, tender texture to the pudding.
Cooked ham: Contributes savory, salty flavor and meaty texture.
Cooked chicken: Provides mild meaty bulk and protein-rich texture to the pudding.

The step that matters

Boil for 2 hours, ensuring the macaroni remains in long pieces.. Boiling the mold for a long, steady time lets the egg mixture set fully and firm up. Gentle handling keeps the macaroni intact rather than breaking it into small pieces.

“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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Macaroni Pudding to Be Made of Cooked Meat