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Italian Macaroni and Tomatoes

A simple pasta dish of macaroni cooked with tomato pulp, butter, salt, pepper, and topped with cheese and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Italian Macaroni and Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni until tender.

  2. Drain the macaroni and place it in a saucepan with butter, coarse sea salt, and pepper.

Make the tomato macaroni

  1. Add the tomato pulp and simmer for 15 minutes.

  2. Sprinkle with grated cheese and serve hot.

  3. Alternatively, layer the tomato and macaroni in a dish with breadcrumbs, cheese, and seasoning, topping with breadcrumbs and bits of butter.

  4. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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

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

  2. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + tomatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 recipes

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

  4. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

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

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the tomato and butter as it cooks.
Tomato pulp
Provides moisture and bright acidity that flavour the pasta as it simmers.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, coating the macaroni and carrying flavour.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury flavour and melts into a creamy, binding layer.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping when baked.

The step that matters

Simmering the tomato pulp. Simmering for the full 15 minutes lets the pulp thicken and reduce, so the sauce clings to the macaroni rather than pooling and making the dish watery.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

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

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