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Macaroni and Oysters

A baked casserole of macaroni and oysters with breadcrumbs, butter, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Macaroni and Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Break the macaroni into small pieces and boil in salted water for 20 minutes, or until soft.

Layer and bake

  1. Line a baking dish with crumbs.

  2. Add a layer of macaroni, then a layer of oysters, seasoning with salt, pepper, and butter.

  3. Repeat layers until the dish is full.

  4. Moisten with milk, cover the top with crumbs, and bake until the oysters are done.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Bread + oystertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,545 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the starchy body of the dish, soaking up milk and holding the layers together.
Oysters
Provide the main savory flavor and tender, briny texture when cooked through.
Bread or cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust on top and a light base under the layers.
Milk
Moistens the layers so the dish cooks tender rather than dry.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until the oysters are done. Oysters turn firm and rubbery when overcooked, so they should be cooked just until opaque and tender. Watching the oysters rather than the clock keeps them juicy while the crumb topping browns.

“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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