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, with Cheese
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.
Cook the macaroni
Boil water in a pot and add macaroni with salt.
Cook gently until slightly more than half done, then drain the water.
Return the macaroni to the saucepan and add enough milk to cover it.
Boil until fully cooked.
Assemble and bake
Butter a deep dish and sprinkle the bottom with grated cheese.
Add a thin layer of macaroni, season with white pepper, and add plenty of butter.
Sprinkle more cheese on top, then cover with a thin layer of bread crumbs.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until browned and serve hot.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 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 bulk of the dish and gives it its body.
- Milk
- Cooks into the pasta to add moisture and a creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the top brown.
- Grated cheese
- Melts to add savoury flavour and a creamy, binding texture.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Cook the macaroni only until slightly more than half done. The pasta finishes cooking later in the milk and the oven, so fully cooking it first leads to mushy, overcooked macaroni.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, cheese, bread):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Thymefits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, cheese, bread. 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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