Why it works: Parmesan cheese and truffle work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 140 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Macaroni
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the macaroni in water for 20 to 25 minutes until tender.
Layer the grated Parmesan cheese over the cooked macaroni to mix thoroughly.
Serve hot with additional grated cheese on the table for each person.
If desired, serve with mustard or beef gravy with a stewed truffle for added flavor.
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.
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Parmesan cheese + truffletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together140 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Beef + truffletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together412 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).
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Parmesan cheese + beeftop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together726 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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 provides its starchy, tender body.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds salty, savoury flavour and melts slightly into the hot pasta.
“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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