Name: Macaroni An. Ch-atin
Ingredients: macaroni; stock; cheese; butter

Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Macaroni An. Ch-atin

Ingredients

macaroni
stock
cheese
butter

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.

Prepare

Prepare the macaroni by stewing it in stock.

Layer

In a tart pan, layer cheese and butter, then add a layer of macaroni.
Repeat layering cheese, butter, and macaroni until all ingredients are used.

Bake and serve

Bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.
Serve very 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.

Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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, giving it its body and chewy texture.
Stock: Cooks the macaroni and adds savoury flavour and moisture.
Cheese: Melts into the layers, adding richness, savour and binding the pasta.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and helps the top brown in the oven.

“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.