Why it works: Cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,041 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
Macaroni and Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Stir cheese over low heat for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and add eggs one at a time, stirring continuously.
Divide the mixture into small portions, rolling them into walnut-sized balls.
Place the balls in a buttered sauté pan and pour sauce over them.
Simmer for 5 minutes, then drain on a sieve.
Layer the gnocchetti on a dish, sprinkle with Parmesan, and add another layer.
Moisten with sauce blanche and cover with a final layer of Parmesan.
Bake in the oven until golden and serve hot.
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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Cheese + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,041 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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