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Macaroni Ravioles

A stuffed pasta dish made with macaroni, spinach, ox‑marrow, shallots, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, consomme, spices, eggs, and veal gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Spinach and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 198 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Macaroni Ravioles

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Tie 4‑5 pieces of macaroni loosely in cheese cloth and soak in cold water for 10 minutes.

  2. Boil the macaroni in salted water for 15 minutes.

  3. Submerge in ice water until cold and drain.

Make the filling

  1. Mince and pound boiled spinach and ox‑marrow in a mortar.

  2. Add minced sautéed shallots, bread crumbs, and grated Parmesan cheese.

  3. Moisten with a little consomme and season with Cayenne pepper, salt, and nutmeg.

  4. Incorporate enough raw eggs to achieve the right consistency and rub through a fine sieve.

Stuff and braise

  1. Remove macaroni from cheese cloth and cut into 3‑inch pieces.

  2. Stuff the macaroni pieces with the filling using an ornamenting sack.

  3. Arrange the stuffed macaroni in a sauté pan and cover with veal gravy.

  4. Braise in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 20 minutes.

  5. Serve on a hot platter or use to garnish soups and entrees.

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. Spinach + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together198 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Spinach + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Large macaroni
Forms the tube casing that holds the filling and keeps its shape during braising.
Ox-marrow
Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a smooth, moist texture.
Raw eggs
Bind the filling so it holds together when stuffed and cooked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help give the filling body and a firm texture.
Grated parmesan cheese
Adds savoury, salty depth and helps the filling set and brown slightly.
Veal gravy
Provides moisture and savoury flavour as the stuffed macaroni braises.

The step that matters

Incorporate enough raw eggs to achieve the right consistency. Eggs set when heated and bind the filling. Too little leaves the stuffing loose and likely to fall out during braising, while too much makes it firm and rubbery. Rubbing it through a fine sieve removes lumps so the filling is smooth enough to pipe.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, bread, parmesan cheese, pepper, nutmeg, egg, veal):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, bread, parmesan cheese, pepper, nutmeg, egg, veal. 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.

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