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Macaroni a LA Dieppoise

A baked macaroni gratin layered with chicken forcemeat, béchamel, Parmesan and prawns, garnished with lobster spawn-coloured forcemeat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Macaroni a LA Dieppoise

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Blanch and drain the macaroni.

  2. Par-boil in salted water, drain again, and cut into 1-inch pieces.

  3. Add the stock, butter, and salt; let simmer until tender.

  4. Stir in half the cheese and season with pepper.

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix the forcemeat with enough cooked lobster spawn to color it.

  2. Remove the tails from the prawns.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter a gratin dish and add a little béchamel sauce.

  2. Spread a thick layer of macaroni, then a layer of forcemeat, followed by another layer of macaroni.

  3. Sprinkle a little grated Parmesan between the layers and use forcemeat for the next layer.

  4. Coat well with béchamel sauce and cover with Parmesan cheese.

  5. Arrange the prawns around the edge in a circular form and sprinkle with fresh breadcrumbs and a few drops of oiled butter.

  6. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 30 minutes.

Garnish and serve

  1. Garnish with the heads of the prawns and a few bits of curly parsley, and serve hot.

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. Sauce + lobstertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Chicken + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,846 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and butter 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

What each ingredient does

Naples macaroni
Forms the sturdy layers that hold the filling and sauce together.
Chicken forcemeat
Provides a soft, savory meat layer that sets as it bakes.
Béchamel sauce
Adds moisture and creaminess that keeps the layers from drying out.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savory flavor and helps the top brown in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown in the oven.
Fresh prawns
Add delicate sweetness and seafood flavor to the dish.

The step that matters

Simmering the macaroni in stock until tender. As pasta absorbs liquid and softens, its starch swells. If it cooks too long it turns mushy and loses the firmness needed to hold the layers together in the gratin.

“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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