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Macaroni with Tomato Sauce

A simple pasta dish with boiled macaroni topped with a slow‑simmered tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Macaroni with Tomato Sauce

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Macaroni with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Boil a pot of water and add 1 teaspoon of salt.

  2. Add the macaroni and cook for about 20 minutes until tender.

  3. Drain the macaroni in a colander.

  4. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of grated cheese over the macaroni.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. For the sauce, combine tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ½ small onion, 1 teaspoon parsley, and lard in a saucepan.

  2. Simmer the sauce slowly for 2 hours, adding water if it gets too dry.

  3. Pour the strained tomato sauce over the macaroni before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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 sauce as its starch structure holds shape when cooked until tender.
Tomatoes
Provide the main liquid and acidity, and break down during slow simmering into the body of the sauce.
Lard
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the simmered sauce.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury, salty flavour and fat to the cooked macaroni.
Onion
Contributes aroma and sweetness as it softens into the simmering sauce.

The step that matters

Simmering the sauce slowly for 2 hours. Long, gentle simmering lets the tomatoes break down and concentrate in flavour. Too high a heat can scorch the bottom of the pan, and the sauce can dry out, which is why the record says to add water when it gets too dry.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, tomato, pepper, parsley, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, tomato, pepper, parsley, egg. 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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