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Neapolitan Macaroni

A simple pasta dish of boiled macaroni tossed with butter, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Neapolitan Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the pasta

  1. Boil the macaroni quickly in water with salt until tender.

  2. Drain the macaroni thoroughly and place it in a stewpan.

Combine and serve

  1. Add butter, grated Parmesan cheese, black pepper, and salt.

  2. Toss until the cheese is well mixed.

  3. Transfer to a dish and top with more grated cheese.

  4. Serve without browning.

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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. 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 carries the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, coating the pasta for a smooth texture.
Parmesan cheese
Melts into the warm pasta, adding savory saltiness and a creamy coating.

The step that matters

Drain the macaroni thoroughly. Excess water left on the pasta dilutes the butter and cheese, so they fail to coat evenly and the dish turns thin or watery.

“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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