Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Macaroni Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Cook the macaroni
Break the macaroni into pieces and add to a saucepan of boiling water with salt.
Boil for 50 minutes until tender.
Drain the macaroni.
Cut the drained macaroni into half‑inch lengths.
Make the pudding
Cook the macaroni gently in the milk for 10 minutes.
Add the sugar, beaten egg, and any desired flavouring.
Place the mixture in a buttered pie dish.
Bake
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
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.
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 chewy body of the pudding as it softens in the milk.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that cooks the pasta and forms the creamy base of the pudding.
- Egg
- Sets when baked, binding the mixture into a soft, custard-like pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the flavour of the milk and egg.
The step that matters
Cook the macaroni gently in the milk. Milk scorches and sticks to the base of the pan if heated too fast. Gentle heat and stirring keep the milk from burning while the pasta absorbs it and thickens.
“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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