Why it works: Onion and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Baked Macaroni and Tomato
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.
Cook the macaroni
Boil the macaroni in salted water for 20 minutes or until tender.
Drain and rinse the macaroni in cold water.
Cut the macaroni into 1-inch lengths.
Layer the dish
Butter a baking dish.
Cover the bottom of the dish with macaroni.
Season the macaroni with bits of butter, paprika, salt, and onion juice.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the macaroni.
Layer stewed tomatoes over the macaroni.
Add more macaroni on top.
Repeat layering until the dish is full.
Cover the dish with tomato sauce.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
Dot the breadcrumbs with remaining butter.
Bake
Bake the covered dish at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Uncover the dish and bake until browned.
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.
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Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Parmesan cheese + tomatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,490 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Onion + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,717 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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, once baked, gives it a firm, sliceable structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps the breadcrumb topping brown.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds savory flavor and salty depth, and browns and sets slightly in the oven.
- Stewed tomatoes
- Supply moisture and acidity that soften the pasta as the dish bakes.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden top layer through browning in the oven.
The step that matters
Uncover the dish and bake until browned. Baking covered traps steam and keeps the top pale and soft. Removing the cover lets moisture evaporate and the breadcrumbs and cheese brown through the Maillard reaction, so the top needs watching until it turns golden.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parmesan cheese, tomato):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parmesan cheese, tomato. 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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