Name: Pate De Macaroni a LA Pontife
Ingredients: 247 mushrooms or truffles; brioche paste; macaroni; butter; water or broth; ham; cream; gravy; Parmesan cheese (optional)

Why it works: Mushroom and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,199 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells apple, fatty. The science ↓

Pate De Macaroni a LA Pontife

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dish

Cover a dish with brioche paste.

Prepare the macaroni

Stew macaroni in butter and water or broth.
Strain the macaroni.
Cut the macaroni into pieces.
Layer the macaroni at the bottom of the dish.

Prepare the filling

Add ham balls made from pounded ham blended with butter.
Prepare any game, boned and filleted.
Blanch and stew cockscombs or ox palates.
Dice sweetbread.
Stew mushrooms in rich sauce.
Place a layer of the meat mixture on top of the macaroni.
Add equal quantities of cream and gravy until the pie is filled.

Bake

Cover with paste.
Bake 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.

Mushroom + parmesan cheesetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,199 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Mushroom + creamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,500 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni: Forms the bulk base layer that holds the filling together in the pie.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the stewed macaroni and ham balls.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness to the filling, keeping it soft and smooth.
Gravy: Adds moisture and savoury flavour, filling the pie with a sauce.
Ham: Adds savoury, salty meat flavour to the filling.
Mushrooms or truffles: Adds earthy aroma and savoury depth to the filling.

“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.