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Macaroni and Tomato Pie

A baked pie of macaroni, cold meat, tomatoes, breadcrumbs, butter, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Macaroni and Tomato Pie

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.

Prepare

  1. Boil the macaroni in salted water until tender.

  2. Cut the cold meat into small pieces and slice the tomatoes.

  3. Butter a pie dish.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the macaroni, meat, and tomatoes in the dish, seasoning between each layer.

  2. Add a little water or stock.

  3. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and dot with butter.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Meat + tomatotop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,438 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the starchy base layer that holds the pie together when cooked and sliced.
Cold meat
Provides savoury flavour and substance as the main protein layer.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that cut through the richness of the meat and butter.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden top layer as they brown in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the breadcrumb topping brown.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Onionfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, butter. 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.

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