Skip to main content
Main

Macaroni, with Anchovies and Butter

A pasta dish of macaroni cooked with anchovies, onion, parsley, butter, white wine, stock, and topped with grated cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Macaroni, with Anchovies and Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce base

  1. In a pan, fry the onion, parsley, and anchovies in butter until the onion is soft.

  2. Parboil the macaroni in salted water for 7 to 8 minutes, then drain.

  3. Add the drained macaroni to the pan with the fried mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour in the white wine and stock, then add the white pepper.

  2. Boil over low heat for 20 minutes.

  3. Layer the mixture in a dish and sprinkle generously with grated cheese.

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. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  2. White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. White wine + cheesetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together345 recipes

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

  5. Onion + white winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,535 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 absorbs the wine and stock as it cooks.
Anchovies
Add a savory, salty depth that melts into the fried base.
Stock
Provides liquid that the pasta absorbs as it simmers, carrying flavor through it.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the savory base.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding richness and savory flavor.

The step that matters

Boil over low heat for 20 minutes. Low heat keeps the liquid simmering gently so the macaroni absorbs it evenly without scorching on the bottom of the pan or drying out before it is tender.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, parsley, white wine, cheese, butter):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, parsley, white wine, cheese, butter. 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.

You might also like

Macaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesCheese MakingCheese Making50 recipesCheese FrittersCheese Fritters34 recipesCheese OmeletteCheese Omelette31 recipes