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Macaroni Cheese

A baked macaroni dish with cheese, béchamel or tomato sauce, mustard, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Macaroni Cheese

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Macaroni Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Break the macaroni into 1-inch lengths.

  2. Cook the macaroni in boiling water for about 25 minutes until tender.

  3. Drain the macaroni well.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour to the melted butter to make a roux.

  3. Gradually whisk in the milk or tomato pulp to create a sauce.

  4. Mix the sauce with the cooked macaroni and three-quarters of the grated cheese.

  5. Season the mixture with salt, cayenne, and lemon juice.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie dish or soufflé dish.

  2. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 10 minutes until nicely browned.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  5. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 bulk and a tender bite once cooked.
Grated cheese
Melts into the sauce for richness and flavour, then browns on top.
Butter
Provides fat for the roux and adds richness to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth sauce that coats the pasta.
Milk or tomato pulp
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it body and moisture.
Made mustard
Adds a sharp savoury note that balances the richness of the cheese.

The step that matters

Gradually whisking in the milk. Adding the liquid slowly to the roux lets the starch disperse evenly, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, mustard, pepper, lemon, butter, flour, milk):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, mustard, pepper, lemon, butter, flour, milk. 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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