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Macaroni, Savoury

A baked macaroni dish with cheese, anchovy essence, white sauce, cream, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Macaroni, Savoury

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Break the macaroni into short pieces.

  2. Boil in rapidly boiling salted water for 20 minutes or until tender, then drain well.

  3. Prepare the white sauce.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add the macaroni, cheese, cream, anchovy essence, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Mix well.

  2. Transfer to china coquilles or ramekin cases.

  3. Bake in a moderately hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until heated through.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 recipes

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

  4. Anchovy + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together798 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  5. Anchovy + peppertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 sauce in place.
White sauce
Provides a creamy, moist base that binds the pasta together.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury richness and helps the top brown in the oven.
Cream
Adds fat and smoothness, keeping the mixture moist and rich.
Anchovy essence
Contributes a deep savoury saltiness that boosts the flavour of the cheese.

The step that matters

Drain the macaroni well after boiling. Excess water left on the pasta dilutes the white sauce and cream, making the mixture loose and watery instead of thick and creamy when baked.

“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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