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Macaroni with Cheese and Butter

A baked macaroni dish with cheese, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Macaroni with Cheese and Butter

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Boil the macaroni until tender.

  2. Melt the butter in a pan until light brown.

  3. Lightly grease a deep gratin dish with some melted butter.

Assemble

  1. Layer the macaroni in the dish.

  2. Sprinkle with grated cheese and season with salt and pepper or cayenne.

  3. Add half of the remaining melted butter on top.

  4. Add another layer of macaroni.

  5. Top with more grated cheese.

  6. Pour the rest of the melted butter over the surface.

Bake

  1. Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) until the top is 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. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

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

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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 body of the dish, holding the layers together.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and browns to a nutty flavour when melted until light brown.
Parmesan or gruyère cheese
Melts into the layers for savoury flavour and helps the top turn golden brown.

The step that matters

Baking until the top is golden brown. The hot oven browns the butter and cheese on the surface, which adds flavour and colour. Stopping too early leaves the top pale and the layers under-heated, while overbaking can dry the macaroni.

“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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