Skip to main content
Main

Maccaroni Cheese

A baked macaroni dish with milk, eggs, Parmesan and Cheddar cheeses, seasoned with pepper.

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

Why it works: Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 592 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Maccaroni Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Soak the macaroni in milk overnight to allow it to swell.

  2. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and gradually stir in the milk and cheeses. Add the pepper to the custard mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Layer the soaked macaroni in a deep dish and pour the custard over it.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven until hot and set.

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. Parmesan cheese + cheddar cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together592 recipes

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

  2. Milk + cheddar cheesetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

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

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

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

  4. Milk + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,608 recipes

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

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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 dish and absorbs milk during soaking, so it softens and swells.
Eggs
Set the custard when heated, binding the dish into a sliceable texture.
Milk
Provides liquid that forms the custard and keeps the dish moist as it bakes.
Parmesan cheese
Adds sharp, savoury flavour and helps the custard set firmly.
Cheddar cheese
Melts into the custard, adding richness and a creamy, savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Bake until hot and set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the custard runny, while overbaking can make it grainy and dry. Check that the centre is just firm.

“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.

You might also like

Macaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesCheese MakingCheese Making50 recipesCheese FrittersCheese Fritters34 recipesCheese OmeletteCheese Omelette31 recipes