Name: Macaroni Pudding of Cooked Meat
Ingredients: equal parts of ham; equal parts of cooked chicken; ¾ cup macaroni, cooked tender in broth; 2 eggs, well beaten; 1 ounce butter; a little cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Ham and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Macaroni Pudding of Cooked Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Mince the ham and cooked chicken finely.
Weigh ¾ cup of cooked macaroni.

Mix and cook

Mix the minced meat, macaroni, beaten eggs, butter, cayenne pepper, and salt thoroughly.
Put the mixture into a mold.
Boil for two hours.

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.

Ham + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,497 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,902 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,958 recipes

Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the mixture and set it firm as the pudding cooks.
Macaroni: Adds body and a soft, starchy texture to the pudding.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Ham: Provides savoury, salty meat flavour throughout the pudding.
Cooked chicken: Adds bulk and mild meaty flavour to the pudding.

The step that matters

Put the mixture into a mold. Packing the mixture firmly and evenly removes large air pockets so the pudding holds together and cooks uniformly when set by the beaten eggs.

“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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Macaroni Pudding of Cooked Meat