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Mould of Meat and Macaroni

A steamed pudding made with macaroni, forcemeat or sausage, minced meat, and beaten eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,777 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mould of Meat and Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mould

  1. Grease a pudding basin or tin mould well.

  2. Cook macaroni until soft enough to twist but firm enough to handle.

Build the pudding

  1. Start from the center of the bottom and wind the macaroni up to the top edge of the basin.

  2. Line the bottom and sides with ½ inch thick forcemeat or sausage meat without displacing the macaroni.

  3. Fill with a thick mince of your choice and add a beaten egg for each ½ pint.

  4. Top with more sausage meat, cover the mould, and steam for 1 hour.

Serve

  1. Serve with a little sauce or gravy poured around it.

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. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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

Macaroni
Forms a shaped edible case that holds the filling in the mould.
Forcemeat or sausage meat
Lines and tops the pudding, adding richness and a firm, savoury layer.
Mince of meat, poultry, game, or fish
Provides the thick savoury filling that cooks through during steaming.
Egg
Binds the filling so it sets firm when steamed.

The step that matters

Winding the macaroni. Macaroni must be cooked until pliable but still firm, so it bends without breaking and holds its shape. Overcooked pasta turns soft and tears, leaving gaps that let the filling leak out during steaming.

“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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