Name: Macaroni and Cream
Ingredients: ½ pound macaroni; 2 ounces butter; ¼ pound grated cheese (equal parts Gruyère and Parmesan); 3 tablespoons cream; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; fried bread or toast for serving

Why it works: Butter and bread 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 and Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Boil the macaroni until tender.
Cut the macaroni into 2-inch pieces.

Combine and serve

In a stew-pan, combine the macaroni, butter, and grated cheese.
Moisten with cream and toss lightly until the cheese stretches.
Season with pepper and salt.
Serve with fried bread or ornamental toast around the edge.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,655 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: Provides the starchy bulk that carries the cheese sauce.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and helps the cheese coat the pasta evenly.
Grated cheese: Melts and stretches into a savory, binding sauce around the pasta.
Cream: Adds moisture so the cheese melts into a smooth, creamy coating.

The step that matters

Toss lightly until the cheese stretches. Gentle heat and light tossing let the cheese melt into an even, smooth coating. Overheating or overworking can make the cheese oily or grainy.

“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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Macaroni and Cream