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Macaroni Soup

A creamy soup made with macaroni, butter, pepper, salt, water, chicken broth, cream, egg yolks, and Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Macaroni Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Boil 2 quarts of water in a large pot.

  2. Add macaroni, butter, pepper, and salt to the boiling water.

  3. Cook for 30 minutes.

  4. Drain the macaroni.

  5. Cut the macaroni into half‑inch lengths.

Make the soup

  1. In a separate pot, boil the macaroni in 2 quarts of chicken broth for an additional 10 minutes.

  2. Let the mixture cool slightly.

  3. Stir in the cream, beaten egg yolks, and grated Parmesan cheese.

  4. Heat over low for 3 minutes. Stir constantly.

  5. Serve.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Chicken + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,846 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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 soup and gives it a chewy, starchy body.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
Chicken broth
Provides the liquid base and savory flavor of the soup.
Cream
Adds fat for a rich, smooth texture.
Egg yolks
Thicken the soup gently as they heat and add richness.
Parmesan cheese
Contributes salty, savory flavor and body to the soup.

The step that matters

Heat over low while stirring constantly. Egg yolks scramble if they get too hot, leaving the soup grainy instead of smoothly thickened. Gentle heat and constant stirring let the yolks thicken it evenly.

“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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