Name: Royal Macaroni
Ingredients: ½ pound macaroni; oil; rich cream cheese; tomatoes; French mushrooms; tomato sauce or cream sauce

Why it works: Tomato and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,719 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Royal 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.

Break the macaroni into three-inch lengths.
Cook the macaroni in boiling water until done.
Oil a deep dish.
Layer macaroni, cream cheese, tomatoes, macaroni, and French mushrooms in the dish.
Top with another layer of macaroni and a generous layer of cheese.
Spread tomato sauce or cream sauce over the top.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes.

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.

Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Cream cheese + mushroomtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together180 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Cream cheese + tomatotop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together446 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).