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Patty of Macaroni

A baked casserole of macaroni, forcemeat balls, cheese, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Patty of Macaroni

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.

Prepare the dish

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cover a dish with brioche paste.

Layer the filling

  1. Stew the macaroni in butter and broth or water until tender, then strain it.

  2. Cut the macaroni into pieces and lay it at the bottom of the dish.

  3. Make forcemeat balls mixed with butter and place them on top of the macaroni.

  4. Grate cheese over the forcemeat balls and macaroni.

  5. Layer sliced fowl, game, veal, or ox palates over the cheese.

  6. Add sliced blanched sweetbread and mushrooms on top.

  7. Stew all ingredients in a good sauce.

  8. Fill the dish with gravy and cover it with paste.

Bake

  1. Bake until golden brown.

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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Brioche + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together187 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (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 starchy base layer that holds the filling together once stewed and cut.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and helping the macaroni turn tender and savory.
Brioche paste
Encloses the filling as a rich, tender crust that browns in the oven.
Grated cheese
Melts into the layers, adding savory flavor and helping bind the filling together.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavor and moisture to the filling as they cook.
Sweetbread
Provides a soft, delicate texture and rich meaty flavor to the filling.

The step that matters

Fill the dish with gravy and cover it with paste. Enough gravy must reach the layers so the filling stays moist while baking, and the paste must be sealed well so steam and juices do not escape before the crust browns.

“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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