Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Macaroni Tart
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Boil the macaroni in water with salt until tender.
Drain the macaroni and place it in a saucepan with butter, milk, sugar, and cinnamon.
Simmer until the mixture thickens.
Pour the mixture into a basin and let it cool.
Bake and serve
Line a tart dish with pastry, fill it with the mixture, and bake until golden brown.
Carefully turn the tart onto a dish when done.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 filling and gives it a soft, tender body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that thickens with the starch as it simmers and sets as it cools.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the tart brown in the oven.
- Tart pastry
- Forms a crisp shell that holds the filling in shape.
The step that matters
Simmer until the mixture thickens. Starch from the macaroni absorbs the milk and swells as it heats, which thickens the filling. Stop once it is thick but still spoonable, because it firms further as it cools. Gentle heat and stirring help keep the milk from scorching on the base of the pan.
“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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