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Baked Macaroni, with Cheese

A baked macaroni dish layered with Parmesan cheese and butter, finished with milk and baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Baked Macaroni, with Cheese

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Baked Macaroni, with Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Do not wash the macaroni.

  2. Break it into 1-inch lengths and add to boiling salted water.

  3. Stir frequently to prevent sticking and boil slowly for 45 minutes.

  4. Drain the macaroni in a colander.

Layer and bake

  1. In a pudding dish, layer macaroni, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and add bits of butter.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, then repeat layers, finishing with macaroni on top, buttered but without cheese.

  3. Pour in milk and bake at 300°F (150°C) for about 30 minutes until golden brown.

  4. 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Parmesan cheese + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 its firm, starchy structure that holds the layers together.
Parmesan cheese
Melts into the layers and browns on top, adding savory, salty flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the top brown and the dish taste rounded.
Milk
Provides moisture that softens the pasta as it bakes and forms a creamy sauce.

The step that matters

Stir the macaroni while it boils. Pasta starch sticks to itself and the pot bottom when it sits still in boiling water. Frequent stirring keeps the pieces separate so they cook evenly and layer cleanly.

“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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