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Shred Macaroni

A dish of pipe macaroni shredded into small pieces, cooked with milk, butter, pepper, salt, and grated cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Shred Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Break the macaroni into 2-inch pieces.

  2. Cook in boiling salted water for 10 minutes.

  3. Drain and spread the macaroni on a dish to cool.

  4. Once cold, split each piece in half lengthwise.

Stew and serve

  1. In a pot, combine the macaroni with hot milk and butter.

  2. Season with pepper and salt, cover, and stew for 10 minutes until tender.

  3. Stir in the grated cheese and serve in a deep dish.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + cheesetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

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

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pipe macaroni
Forms the body of the dish, absorbing milk as it stews until tender.
Hot milk
Provides liquid that the pasta absorbs, creating a soft, creamy texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Grated cheese
Melts into the warm milk and adds savory flavor and body.

The step that matters

Stew covered until tender. Stewing gently in covered heat lets the pasta absorb the milk slowly and soften evenly. Uncovered or overly rapid heat can scorch the milk or leave the pasta dry and unevenly cooked.

“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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