Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Maccaroni Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Cook the macaroni in a stew pan with 2 tablespoons of butter, salt, pepper, and enough water to cover it until dry.
Grate the cheese and mix it with the macaroni, adding another 2 tablespoons of butter.
Let the mixture cool.
Assemble
Butter the inside of a deep, flat-bottomed pan shaped like a drum.
Line the pan with a good paste, covering the sides and bottom.
Add the macaroni mixture to the pan and cover it with a lid of paste.
Bake and serve
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for at least 30 minutes.
Once done, loosen the pie from the pan and turn it out onto a dish.
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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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + cheesetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,861 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Macaroni (in the method)
- Forms the bulk of the filling and gives the pie its body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, coating the pasta so it stays soft and flavourful.
- Cheese
- Melts into the macaroni, adding savoury flavour and a creamy binding texture.
- Paste
- Forms the crust that encloses the filling and holds the pie's shape.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool. Adding the filling to the paste while it is still hot can soften the crust before baking and make it harder to handle, so letting the macaroni cool first helps it hold its shape.
“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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