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Macaroni with Cheese

A baked macaroni dish layered with cheese, sauce, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Macaroni with Cheese

Why it works: Butter and bread 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 with Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA very quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Break macaroni into one-inch lengths and cook in boiling salted water for 20 minutes.

  2. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, melt butter, add flour, and whisk in hot milk until smooth.

  2. Season the sauce with salt.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a baking dish, layer grated cheese, macaroni, and sauce.

  2. Repeat layers, finishing with cheese on top.

  3. Sprinkle fine bread crumbs over the top.

  4. Dot with melted butter.

  5. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

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 + breadtop 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. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk and firm structure that holds the sauce in each bite.
Butter
Enriches the sauce with fat and adds richness to the browned top.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as it cooks with the butter.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it a creamy body.
Grated cheese
Melts into the sauce and adds savory flavor and creaminess.
Fine bread crumbs
Toast in the oven to add a crisp, golden contrast to the soft dish.

The step that matters

Whisking the hot milk into the butter and flour. Adding the milk all at once can leave lumps of raw flour. Whisking steadily while the milk is hot lets the starch dissolve evenly and thicken into a smooth sauce.

“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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