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Baked Macaroni with Cheese

A baked pasta dish with macaroni, milk, butter, cheese, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Baked Macaroni with Cheese

Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓

Baked Macaroni with Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Boil the macaroni according to package instructions and drain.

Make the cheese sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine the drained macaroni, milk, butter, and grated cheese.

  2. Stir over medium heat, seasoning with pepper and salt.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered gratin dish.

  2. Sprinkle bread crumbs and additional cheese on top.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until browned and serve.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Provides the starchy body that holds the sauce and gives the dish its structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it a creamy, smooth texture.
Parmesan or cheshire cheese
Melts into the sauce to add rich savory flavor and a creamy, stretchy texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and smoothness in the sauce and helps the crust brown.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping through browning in the oven.

The step that matters

Stir over medium heat. Milk scorches and can form a skin or stick to the pan if heated too hard or left unstirred. Gentle, constant stirring keeps the sauce smooth and prevents the cheese from turning grainy or oily.

“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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