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Pontifical Macaroni

A baked macaroni casserole with chicken, ham, liver, mushrooms, eggs, breadcrumbs, and broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Pontifical Macaroni

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

  1. Boil the macaroni or spaghetti for 15 minutes, then drain.

  2. Butter a mold and line it with the cooked macaroni.

Fill and bake

  1. In the center, add the chicken, ham, liver, mushrooms, eggs, breadcrumbs, herbs, and seasoning.

  2. Pour the chicken broth over the mixture.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

Serve

  1. Turn out onto a dish and serve with your choice of sauce.

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.

  1. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Mushroom + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,231 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  5. Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,389 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni or spaghetti
Forms the edible shell that holds the filling together once cooked and molded.
Chicken broth
Adds moisture so the filling stays tender and does not dry out during baking.
Breadcrumbs
Soaked in milk, they bind the filling and help keep it moist and soft.
Eggs
Hard-boiled eggs add firmness and body to the filling.
Chicken
Provides the main meaty texture and savory flavor of the filling.
Ham
Adds salty, savory flavor to the filling.

The step that matters

Lining the mold with macaroni. Pressing the cooked pasta evenly against the buttered mold builds the shell that holds its shape when turned out. Gaps or thin spots let the filling leak or break the shape after baking.

“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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