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 with Bread Crumbs
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash the macaroni.
Simmer the macaroni in milk and broth with salt until tender.
Remove the macaroni from the liquid and place it on a dish.
Top and bake
Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the macaroni.
Cover with bread crumbs and pour melted butter over the crumbs.
Brown in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 of the dish and gives it a tender, starchy body.
- Milk
- Cooks into the macaroni, adding moisture and a creamy, rich texture.
- Broth
- Adds savory flavor and liquid as the macaroni simmers until tender.
- Cheese
- Melts into a binding layer and adds savory richness under the crumbs.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp top layer that browns in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the crumbs brown and gives a rich flavor.
The step that matters
Simmer the macaroni until tender. Macaroni must be fully cooked before baking, because the oven only browns the top and does not soften pasta that is still firm in the center.
“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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