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On Cooking Macaroni

A simple macaroni dish cooked with butter, pepper, and grated Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

On Cooking Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Boil a large saucepan of water and add the salt.

  2. Break the macaroni into convenient pieces and add to the boiling water.

  3. Stir frequently and keep the water boiling until the macaroni is tender, about 15-30 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat and pour in a jug of cold water.

  5. Strain the macaroni in a colander and cover with a cloth.

Finish and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then toss the macaroni in it.

  2. Add black pepper and plenty of grated Parmesan cheese.

  3. Serve hot on a dish.

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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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, its starch softening as it cooks in boiling water.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth coating that helps the macaroni feel silky.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savoury flavour and melts into the butter to coat the pasta.

The step that matters

Cook the macaroni until tender. Stirring keeps the pieces from sticking together, and a steady boil cooks them evenly. Test a piece by biting it, since tenderness, not the clock alone, shows when pasta is done.

“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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