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 gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the macaroni
Boil the macaroni in salted water for 30 minutes, then cool and chop.
Make the cheese sauce
In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
Gradually add the milk and mustard, stirring until the mixture thickens.
Mix in the grated cheese until melted.
Bake and serve
Combine the macaroni with the cheese sauce in a shallow dish.
Sprinkle additional cheese on top and add small pieces of butter.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown, about 20 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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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + cheesetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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 body of the dish as the pasta that holds the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and helping the flour form a smooth roux.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked briefly with the butter.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens as it heats with the flour.
- Grated cheese
- Melts into the sauce to add savory flavor and a creamy, stretchy texture.
The step that matters
Thickening the cheese sauce. Adding milk too quickly or skipping steady stirring can leave lumps in the roux. Cheese should be stirred in off the heat or on low heat, since high heat can make it grainy or oily.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, cheese, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, cheese, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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