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Macaroni

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Cook and combine

  1. Boil ¼ pound of macaroni in 2 quarts of water until tender but firm.

  2. Drain the macaroni and place it in a basin.

  3. Add ½ pint of milk, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 ounce of grated cheese.

Top and bake

  1. Strew fine bread crumbs over the top.

  2. Bake until nicely browned.

Alternative and serve

  1. Alternatively, mix 4 ounces of cheese, a little butter, salt, and pepper with the drained macaroni.

  2. Toss well 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.

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. Bread + buttertop 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. Cheese + buttertop 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
Forms the bulk and structure of the dish, holding the sauce.
Milk
Provides moisture and the base for a creamy sauce.
Cheese
Adds savory flavor and creaminess as it melts into the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother texture.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping in the oven.

The step that matters

Boil the macaroni until tender but firm. Pasta keeps softening as it absorbs liquid and bakes, so undercooking it at the start helps prevent a mushy finished dish.

“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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