Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Mouton Au Macaroni
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the macaroni
Boil the macaroni in salted water until just tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
Cut the macaroni into ½‑inch bits and mix lightly with the mutton.
Make the mixture
Chop the cold mutton. Mix it with 2 tablespoons butter, curry powder, salt, 1 beaten egg, and the milk.
Butter a pie plate or tin sheet and form the mixture into a neat oval mass in the center.
Bake and serve
Spread 1 tablespoon butter over it and place it in the oven.
When heated, cover it with a beaten egg seasoned with a pinch of salt and 2 pinches curry powder.
Scatter breadcrumbs over the top and bake until brown, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove carefully to a dish and garnish with parsley.
Serve.
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.
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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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Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + muttontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together814 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mutton and macaroni and form a glossy topping that sets and browns in the oven.
- Macaroni
- Provides the starchy body of the dish, holding its shape once cut and mixed.
- Mutton
- Supplies the main savoury meat flavour and bulk of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top brown in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the mutton mixture, keeping it soft rather than dry.
The step that matters
Bake until brown. The egg topping and breadcrumbs need enough heat to set and brown, but the time is short. Overbaking can dry the mixture and toughen the egg, so watch closely once the top begins to colour.
“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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