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Macaroni “au Gratin.”

A baked macaroni dish with Parmesan and Gruyère cheeses, butter, milk, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and gruyere cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Macaroni “au Gratin.”

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni in salted water until cooked, then pour cold water over it and drain.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, blend a little flour into the milk or cream, then add ¼ ounce of butter, parsley, onion, pepper, salt, and nutmeg.

  2. Cook the sauce over low heat until thick, then strain through a fine sieve.

Assemble and bake

  1. Stir the sauce into the drained macaroni along with most of the cheese and the butter.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a buttered baking dish, sprinkle with remaining cheese and a little hot butter on top.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.

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. Parmesan cheese + gruyere cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together152 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

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

  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

Macaroni
Forms the body of the dish, giving the gratin its bulk and chew.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and helps the top brown and crisp.
Gruyere cheese
Melts smoothly into the sauce, adding nutty flavor and stretch.
Milk or cream
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, providing moisture and richness.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the top turn golden brown.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the milk or cream into a smooth sauce that coats the pasta.

The step that matters

Cook the sauce until thick. The sauce must thicken fully over low heat so it coats the macaroni. Cooking too hot can scorch the milk or cause it to curdle, and a thin sauce will run off the pasta and make the gratin watery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parmesan cheese, gruyere cheese, butter, milk, parsley, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parmesan cheese, gruyere cheese, butter, milk, parsley, pepper, nutmeg. 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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