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Macaroni a LA Milanaise

A baked macaroni dish with Gruyère, Parmesan, nutmeg, pepper, cream, and tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,041 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Macaroni a LA Milanaise

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cheese sauce

  1. Boil the macaroni according to the recipe on page 252.

  2. In a clean saucepan, combine the Gruyère cheese, Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, pepper, and cream.

  3. Stir over low heat for 3 to 5 minutes.

Combine and serve

  1. Add the boiled macaroni and stir for 3 minutes.

  2. Arrange the macaroni in a dome shape on a hot dish and pour over the thick tomato sauce.

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. Cheese + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,041 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Parmesan cheese + tomatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,490 recipes

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

  5. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the dish and carries the cheese sauce.
Gruyère cheese
Melts into the sauce, giving it a smooth, stretchy texture and savory flavour.
Parmesan cheese
Adds sharp, salty flavour and helps the sauce thicken as it melts.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness so the cheese melts into a smooth sauce.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat. Cheese proteins tighten and turn grainy or oily when overheated, so gentle low heat keeps the sauce smooth while the cheese melts into the cream.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, parmesan cheese, pepper, cream, tomato, sauce):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Basilfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, parmesan cheese, pepper, cream, tomato, sauce. 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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