Skip to main content
Main

Macaroni Soup

A simple soup of macaroni, butter, onion, broth, and grated Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Onion and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Macaroni Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. In a saucepan, combine macaroni, butter, and onion.

  2. Boil until the macaroni is tender.

  3. Drain the macaroni and pour broth over it.

Simmer and serve

  1. Simmer for about 10 minutes, watching to prevent breaking or becoming pulpy.

  2. Add grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

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. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Onion + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,717 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + beeftop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the body of the soup and absorbs broth, giving it substance.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor through the dish.
Onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it softens.
Broth
Provides the liquid base and the main savory flavor.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savory depth and body when stirred in at the end.

The step that matters

Simmering after adding broth. Pasta keeps absorbing liquid and softening, so it can break apart or turn pulpy if simmered too long. Watching the time and texture keeps the macaroni intact and the soup from becoming thick.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Tomatofits about as well
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, beef, parmesan cheese. 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.

More macaroni soup recipes

Tomato 8Veal 5 See all 191 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipes