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Macaroni Custard

A custard-coated macaroni dish made with milk, eggs, sugar, cornflour, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Macaroni Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni in 1 pint of milk, adding a little water if needed, until tender.

  2. Place the cooked macaroni on a glass dish to cool.

Make the custard and serve

  1. In a separate bowl, make a custard with the remaining milk, eggs, sugar, cornflour, and vanilla.

  2. Once the custard is cool, pour it over the macaroni.

  3. Serve with or without stewed fruit.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 soft, tender body of the dish.
Milk
Cooks the macaroni and provides the liquid base for the custard.
Eggs
Set the custard, giving it structure and richness.
Cornflour
Thickens the custard so it holds a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the custard.
Vanilla
Adds aroma and flavour to the custard.

The step that matters

Let the custard cool before pouring it over the macaroni. The record directs pouring only once the custard is cool. Eggs and cornflour set as the custard cools, so pouring it warm can leave the dish loose and soft rather than holding a clean, creamy layer.

“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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