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Macaroni with Mushrooms

A pasta dish of macaroni, mushrooms, bacon, onion, tomatoes, and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,719 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Macaroni with Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the macaroni into small pieces.

  2. Cook the macaroni in salted water until tender.

  3. Soak the dried mushrooms in a little water.

  4. Drain the cooked macaroni.

Make the mushroom mixture

  1. Fry the bacon until crispy.

  2. Add the chopped onion to the bacon and cook until light brown.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped tomatoes and soaked mushrooms.

  4. Cook the mixture slowly for 20 minutes.

Layer and serve

  1. On a platter, layer grated cheese, macaroni, and mushroom mixture alternately until all ingredients are used.

  2. Serve hot.

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. Mushroom + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + cheesetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 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 of the dish and gives it its starchy, filling body.
Dried mushrooms
Rehydrate in water to add earthy, savoury flavour and moisture to the mixture.
Bacon
Renders fat that cooks the onion and adds smoky, savoury flavour.
Onion
Softens and browns in the bacon fat, adding sweetness and depth to the base.
Chopped tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that help form a sauce as the mixture cooks down.
Cheese
Melts between the layers, binding the macaroni and adding rich, savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture slowly for 20 minutes. Slow cooking lets the moisture from the tomatoes and mushrooms evaporate and concentrate into a thick sauce. Rushing it leaves the mixture watery, which would make the layered dish soggy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, tomato, cheese):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, tomato, cheese. 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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