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Macaroni As a Vegetable

A baked macaroni dish with eggs, cream, ham, meat, cheese, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Macaroni As a Vegetable

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Simmer the macaroni in plenty of water until tender but not broken; strain off the water.

  2. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, egg whites, cream, chopped white meat, chopped ham, grated cheese, salt, and pepper.

Heat and combine

  1. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until warmed through.

  2. Mix the heated mixture with the macaroni.

Steam or bake

  1. Transfer to a buttered mold and steam for 1 hour, or bake if preferred.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Cream + cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 recipes

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

  5. Ham + cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together303 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Enrich the custard and help it set into a tender, cohesive texture.
Egg whites
Add structure and lightness as their proteins set during cooking.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the custard soft rather than dry.
Macaroni
Provides the bulk and body that the custard binds together.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the custard set with a rich, firm body.
Ham
Contributes savory, salty flavor throughout the filling.

The step that matters

Heating the egg mixture over low heat. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures, so gentle heat while stirring constantly keeps the custard smooth. Too much heat can scramble the eggs and leave a grainy texture.

“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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