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 ↓
Macaroni
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the macaroni
Combine macaroni, water, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan.
Boil until the water is absorbed.
Add the cheese
Grate the cheese and add it to the macaroni along with the remaining butter.
Heat until the cheese melts.
Line and bake
Grease another saucepan with butter.
Line the sides and bottom with a thin layer of pastry.
Add the macaroni mixture to the lined saucepan and cover with more pastry.
Cook gently over low heat for at least 30 minutes, placing heat under and on top of the lid.
Once the pastry is cooked, turn the macaroni onto a dish and serve.
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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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,322 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 gives it a firm, starchy structure once cooked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, coating the pasta and helping the cheese blend smoothly.
- Old gruyère or parmesan cheese
- Melts into the pasta to add savory flavor and a creamy, binding texture.
- Pastry
- Encloses the macaroni, forming a crust that holds its shape and browns during cooking.
The step that matters
Cook gently over low heat. Low, even heat under and over the lid lets the pastry crust set and cook through without scorching, while the macaroni and cheese heat gradually and stay moist.
“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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