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Macaroni Hungarian

A macaroni dish cooked with stock, onion, cheese, and browned butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,747 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Macaroni Hungarian

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni in water for 20 minutes.

  2. Strain and transfer to cold water.

  3. Return to the saucepan with stock and simmer for 10 minutes until absorbed.

Finish and serve

  1. Add chopped onion and shake until cooked.

  2. Transfer to a heated platter, top with cheese, and pour over browned butter before serving.

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. Cream cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Onion + cream cheesetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it a firm, starchy bite.
Stock
Liquid that the pasta absorbs, adding savory flavor as it softens.
Onion
Adds aroma and a mild sweetness once cooked through.
Cream cheese or cottage cheese
Adds creaminess, richness and moisture to the pasta.
Browned butter
Contributes fat and a nutty, toasty aroma.

The step that matters

Simmering the macaroni in stock until absorbed. The pasta keeps absorbing liquid and softening while it simmers. Stopping at the right moment keeps it tender but not mushy or dry, and the starch helps thicken the stock.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream cheese, butter):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Cucumberfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream cheese, butter. 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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