Why it works: Tomato and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,469 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Maccaroni and Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the macaroni
Cut the macaroni into four-inch pieces.
Boil enough salted water to cover the macaroni.
Add the macaroni and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
Drain the macaroni and arrange it on a hot dish.
Serve
Pour tomato sauce over the macaroni and serve immediately.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together5,469 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
- Macaroni
- Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it its starchy, chewy body once cooked.
- Tomato sauce
- Adds moisture, acidity and savory flavor over the cooked pasta.
The step that matters
Add the macaroni and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Cooking in boiling salted water gelatinizes the starch so the pasta turns tender but firm. Overcooking makes it soft and mushy, while undercooking leaves a raw, chalky center.
“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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