Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Macaroni Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the macaroni
Boil the macaroni in water until tender.
Cut the macaroni into small pieces and place in a pie dish.
Make the custard
Beat the milk and eggs together, then add sugar and flavouring.
Pour the custard mixture over the macaroni.
Bake and serve
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.
Serve with stewed fruit.
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.
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 body of the pudding, giving it bulk and a soft, starchy texture.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the custard and hold the pudding together.
- Milk
- Makes the custard liquid, adding moisture and a creamy richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the custard and helps balance the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Eggs set when heated to a firm point, but overbaking can make the custard grainy and watery. Baking only until just set keeps it smooth and tender.
“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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