Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Macaroni, As Usually Served
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
Boil macaroni in milk or veal broth with salt until tender.
Alternatively, simmer macaroni in half milk and half broth until tender.
For another variation, simmer macaroni in broth with mace and salt until tender.
Drain and place in a dish, adding butter and grated cheese.
Add the custard and topping
Mix egg yolk with cream, heat to thicken, then pour over macaroni.
Top with more cheese and butter, then bake in a Dutch oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes without hardening the top.
Grate cheese on top and add butter, then brown with a salamander.
Place in a dish, cover with cheese and bread crumbs, pour warm butter over, and roast in a Dutch oven until browned.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 and absorbs the milk or broth as it cooks.
- Cheese
- Melts into the sauce to give richness, savoury flavour and a stringy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the top brown as it bakes.
- Egg yolk
- Thickens the cream mixture into a custard that sets softly around the pasta.
- Milk or veal broth
- Provides the liquid that cooks the macaroni and forms the creamy base.
- Bread crumbs
- Forms a crisp, browned topping over the dish.
The step that matters
Heating the egg yolk and cream. Egg yolk thickens when heated gently, but too much heat can scramble it into lumps. Heat slowly and stir so the custard thickens smoothly before it is poured over the macaroni.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, cheese, egg, cream, bread):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, cheese, egg, cream, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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