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 with Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the macaroni in boiling water for 20 minutes.
Boil the macaroni until tender, about 30 minutes.
Skim out the macaroni and place it in an earthenware dish.
Assemble and bake
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then layer with cheese slices.
Add butter and milk on top.
Bake for 20 minutes and serve in the baking dish.
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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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + cheesetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,861 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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 as its starch softens during cooking.
- Old english cheese
- Melts into the dish, adding rich flavour and a creamy, binding texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess, helping the dish stay soft during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Boil the macaroni until tender, about 30 minutes. Pasta keeps softening as it sits and bakes. If it is cooked fully tender before baking, the finished dish stays soft rather than turning mushy.
“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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