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Timble of Macaroni

A baked macaroni dish with meat, butter, and egg white, steamed in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Timble of Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni in salted water until tender but not too soft.

  2. Strain the macaroni and let it cool.

  3. Cut the macaroni into pieces ¼ inch long.

Assemble in the mold

  1. Butter a plain mold.

  2. Place the macaroni pieces on the bottom and sides of the mold, packing them closely.

  3. Mix the chopped meat with the egg white until well combined.

  4. Fill the mold with the meat and egg white mixture.

  5. Cover the top with buttered paper.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam the assembled dish for 1 hour.

  2. To serve, place a dish on top of the mold and carefully turn it over to release.

  3. Serve with white or brown gravy.

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 + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Pipe macaroni
Forms the sturdy outer shell that holds the molded shape together.
Chopped meat
Provides the savory filling and the main body of the molded dish.
Egg white
Sets when steamed, binding the chopped meat into a firm, sliceable mass.

The step that matters

Packing the macaroni into the mold. Pieces packed loosely leave gaps that let the filling escape or fall apart when turned out. Close packing creates a continuous shell that holds its shape once the egg white sets 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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