Name: Macaroni Savoury
Ingredients: 8 ounces macaroni; 3 large eggs; 1 teaspoon chopped onion; 1 teaspoon mixed herbs (for veal stuffing); 1 teaspoon chopped parsley; Nepal pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; 1 cup milk; butter for topping

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Macaroni Savoury

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

Boil the macaroni until tender, then cut it into 2-inch lengths.
In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the chopped onion, herbs, parsley, Nepal pepper, and salt.
Stir in the milk until well combined.
Mix the egg mixture thoroughly with the macaroni.

Bake

Pour the mixture into a pie dish and dot the top with butter.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until golden brown.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 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 of the casserole and gives it body once it is set.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and set on baking to hold the casserole together.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness, loosening the egg so the custard sets creamy.
Butter: Melts over the top, adding richness and helping the surface brown.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, veal, parsley, pepper, milk, butter):

Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, veal, parsley, pepper, milk, butter. 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.