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Dessert

Macaroni Pudding

A baked or boiled dessert made with macaroni, milk, eggs, sugar, nutmeg, almonds or lemon peel, served with sweet sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Macaroni Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni in water for about 30 minutes.

  2. Drain the water from the macaroni.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and then add the milk, sugar, nutmeg, and almonds or lemon peel.

  2. Combine the mixture with the macaroni.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour into a well-buttered mold and boil for 1 hour or bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  2. Serve with sweet sauce.

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. Nutmeg + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the firm, starchy body that holds the pudding together as it sets.
Eggs
Set the milk mixture into a custard, giving the pudding structure when cooked.
Milk
Provides the liquid that the eggs set, keeping the pudding moist and tender.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the milk and egg mixture.

The step that matters

Cooking the pudding through. Eggs set as they heat; if the pudding is overcooked or heated too hard, the egg proteins tighten and the texture turns grainy, dry, or watery. Gentle, steady heat keeps the custard smooth.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, almond, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Capersfits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, almond, butter. 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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