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Baked Macaroni and Cheese

A baked casserole of macaroni with cheese, mustard, pepper, salt, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Boil and drain the macaroni.

Assemble

  1. Layer the macaroni in a greased baking dish, seasoning each layer with minced fat pork or butter, grated cheese, mustard, pepper, and salt.

  2. Add bread crumbs for the top layer.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  2. Remove the cover and bake until the top is brown.

  3. Serve in the baking 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. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 recipes

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

  4. Pork + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,445 recipes

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

  5. Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk and structure of the dish, holding the layers together as it bakes.
Cheese
Melts into the pasta to add richness, creaminess, and savory flavor.
Fat pork or butter
Adds fat for richness and mouthfeel and helps carry flavor through the layers.
Bread crumbs
Forms a top layer that browns in the oven, adding crispness and contrast.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavor that balances the richness of the cheese and fat.

The step that matters

Uncovering to brown the top. Covered baking traps steam and keeps the surface soft. Removing the cover lets moisture escape so the crumbs and cheese can brown through the Maillard reaction, which needs dry, hot surface conditions.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, cheese, pepper, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, cheese, pepper, bread. 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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