Name: Macaroni
Ingredients: 2 eggs; ¼ cup milk; 1 ounce butter; pepper; coarse sea salt; Parmesan cheese or bread crumbs

Why it works: Milk and butter 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cook the macaroni and layer it in a dish, seasoning each layer with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Beat the eggs and mix them with the milk.
Melt the butter and pour it over the macaroni.
Pour the egg and milk mixture over everything.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Serve the macaroni in the dish without turning it out.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Milk + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,608 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).