Skip to main content
Main

Italian Macaroni Pie

A baked casserole of macaroni, sliced beef or mutton, onion, tomatoes, breadcrumbs, and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Italian Macaroni Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Cut the beef or mutton into thin slices.

  2. Peel and slice the onion thinly.

  3. Slice the tomatoes.

  4. Boil the macaroni in slightly salted water until tender, then cool and drain it.

  5. Cut the macaroni into small pieces.

Assemble

  1. Line a buttered baking dish with macaroni.

  2. Arrange the meat, onion, and tomato slices in layers in the baking dish.

  3. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then pour over a little stock.

  4. Cover the top with macaroni, then sprinkle with breadcrumbs and grated cheese.

Bake

  1. Bake for about 20 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 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 base and top layers, giving the pie its body and bulk.
Cold beef or mutton
Provides the savoury meat filling that is layered through the dish.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and a gentle acidity to the layers as they cook.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding richness and a golden crust.
Bread crumbs
Crisp up in the oven, adding texture to the top layer.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, tomato, bread, cheese, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, tomato, bread, cheese, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipes