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Macaroni Cheese

A baked macaroni dish with butter, Parmesan, mustard, eggs, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Macaroni 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 ↓

Macaroni Cheese

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 dish

  1. Boil the macaroni until tender.

Assemble

  1. Layer the macaroni in a well-buttered pie dish, alternating with grated Parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of mustard and salt until full.

  2. Beat the eggs in a bowl and mix with the milk.

  3. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the macaroni, ensuring it is well covered.

  4. Dot the top with small pieces of butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until golden brown.

  2. Serve decorated with a frill around the 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. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Parmesan cheese + mustardtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together545 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 structure of the dish once cooked and baked.
Eggs
Set with the milk to form a custard that binds the layers together.
Milk
Combines with the eggs to create a creamy custard that moistens the pasta.
Grated parmesan cheese
Adds savoury, salty flavour and helps the top brown as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top turn golden brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Covering the macaroni with the egg and milk mixture. The macaroni must be fully covered so the egg and milk custard can set evenly. Uncovered pasta can dry out and bake unevenly.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parmesan cheese, egg, milk):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parmesan cheese, egg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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