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 ↓
Baked Macaroni, with Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Break the macaroni into 2.5 to 3‑inch pieces.
Boil in salted water for 12 to 15 minutes until soft.
Drain in a colander.
Assemble and bake
In a pudding dish, combine macaroni with butter, salt, and cheese, layering if desired.
Cover with milk and bake until absorbed and browned.
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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Macaroni
- Forms the starchy body of the dish, holding the sauce in its tubes and shape.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the finished dish.
- Grated cheese
- Provides savoury flavour and melts into the milk to create a creamy sauce.
- Milk
- Hydrates the pasta and cheese as it bakes, forming a creamy sauce that thickens.
The step that matters
Cover with milk and bake until absorbed and browned. Baking until the milk is absorbed and the surface browns matters: too little time leaves the dish soupy, while overbaking can dry the pasta. Browning comes from Maillard reactions on the cheese and milk proteins at the top.
“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.
More macaroni and cheese recipes
You might also like
Cheese Making50 recipes
Cheese Fritters34 recipes
Cheese Omelette31 recipes
Rice and Cheese Casserole23 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.