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Macaroni and Cheese

A baked macaroni and cheese dish with butter, cheese, milk, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Macaroni and Cheese

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 ↓

Macaroni and Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Layer the dish

  1. Butter a pudding dish.

  2. Layer boiled macaroni and grated cheese alternately, finishing with cheese on top.

  3. Add bits of butter, salt, and pepper to each layer.

  4. Moisten with rich milk, cream, or strong stock.

Bake the layers

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until rich brown.

Make the dressing

  1. Stir 1 tablespoon butter, salt, and pepper into 1 cup hot milk until boiling.

  2. Gradually pour the hot milk over 2 beaten egg yolks and 4 tablespoons grated cheese.

  3. Pour this dressing over ½ pound boiled macaroni in a pudding dish.

Finish and bake

  1. Sprinkle grated cheese on top and bake for 30 minutes.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled macaroni
Forms the bulk and structure of the dish that holds the sauce.
Grated cheese
Melts into the sauce, adding richness, savoury flavour and stringy texture.
Milk, cream, or stock
Provides moisture and forms the sauce that softens the pasta.
Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing and add richness when gently heated.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Pour the hot milk over the egg yolks gradually. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but added to very hot liquid all at once they can scramble into lumps. Pouring slowly while whisking tempers the yolks so the dressing stays smooth.

“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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