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Macaroni Rissoles

Macaroni rissoles are fried balls of macaroni, cheese, and egg coated in cracker crumbs, served with tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour.

  2. Gradually add the hot milk, stirring until thick.

  3. Add the grated cheese and the whipped egg yolks, mixing well.

  4. Fold in the macaroni and let the mixture cool completely.

Shape and coat

  1. With floured hands, form the mixture into small balls.

  2. Roll each ball in beaten egg, then in cracker crumbs.

  3. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the balls in deep, boiling oil until golden brown.

  2. Serve with tomato sauce.

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. Butter + milktop 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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cheese + tomatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 recipes

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Adds body and bulk to the filling, giving the rissoles a substantial bite.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a stiff sauce that holds the mixture together.
Milk
Hydrates the flour to form a thick white sauce that binds the filling.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help set it, adding richness and a firmer texture.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and fat, and melts into the sauce for richness.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browning outer coating during frying.

The step that matters

Chill before frying. Chilling firms the starchy filling so the balls keep their shape. Without it, they can crack or leak in hot oil.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, cheese, egg, sauce):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, cheese, egg, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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