Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Baked Macaroni
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the macaroni
Break the macaroni into 1-inch pieces and cook in boiling water with a pinch of salt for 20 minutes.
Drain the macaroni and layer it in a greased baking dish.
Layer and bake
Add a layer of grated Parmesan cheese and small bits of butter.
Repeat the layers until the dish is filled, finishing with grated cheese on top.
Wet the layers with a little milk and lightly season with salt.
Cover and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes, then uncover to brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Parmesan cheese + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,608 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
- Macaroni
- Forms the bulk and structure of the dish as the starch that holds the layers together.
- Grated parmesan cheese
- Adds savory, salty flavor and helps the top brown as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and helps the top brown.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that keeps the pasta from drying out during baking.
The step that matters
Wet the layers with milk before baking. Pasta absorbs liquid as it bakes and can turn dry if the layers are not moistened. A little milk through the layers keeps the dish creamy rather than dry.
“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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