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Macaroni Au Gratin

A baked macaroni dish with a creamy cheese sauce and breadcrumb topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Macaroni Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan without browning it.

  2. Add the flour and mix until smooth.

  3. Stir in the cream and cook until thickened.

  4. Season with salt and pepper.

  5. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the egg yolk, then do not return it to heat.

Prepare the macaroni and cheese

  1. Boil the macaroni until soft.

  2. Melt the cheese with the butter in a separate pan.

Assemble and bake

  1. Grease a baking dish and layer the macaroni and sauce alternately.

  2. Pour the melted cheese and butter over the top to ensure it penetrates the dish.

  3. Cover with bread crumbs and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

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.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the sauce and melted cheese topping.
Flour
Thickens the sauce as its starch swells in the hot liquid.
Cream
Provides moisture and a smooth, rich body to the sauce.
Cheese
Melts into the sauce, adding savory flavor and a creamy, stretchy texture.
Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the sauce as it bakes.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolk off the heat. Egg yolk thickens by gently setting; if the sauce is returned to heat or gets too hot, the yolk can scramble and turn grainy.

“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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