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Another Way to Dress Macaroni

A macaroni dish dressed with gravy, butter, onion, cream, and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Another Way to Dress Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Simmer the macaroni with salt, gravy, and water until tender.

  2. Strain the macaroni and place it in a saucepan.

Make the sauce

  1. Add butter, minced onion, and cream to the saucepan.

  2. Grate half of the cheese and mix it with the macaroni.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

  2. Brown the top with a salamander or broiler.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Cream + cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 recipes

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

  5. Onion + cheesetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,849 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 starchy body of the dish, giving it structure and bulk.
Cheese
Melts into the sauce to give richness and a savory, stretchy texture.
Butter
Adds fat for smooth mouthfeel and rich flavor.
Cream
Adds moisture and fat, helping the sauce become smooth and creamy.
Onion
Contributes aroma and savory depth to the sauce.

The step that matters

Brown the top with a salamander or broiler. The surface needs enough heat to brown without drying out or overcooking the pasta underneath. Watch it closely, since the browning happens quickly once the cheese is exposed to high heat.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Mustardfits less well
  4. Asparagusfits less well

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