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Macaroni in Coquillen Schalen

Baked macaroni served in shells with butter, gravy, and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Macaroni in Coquillen Schalen

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Boil macaroni in salted water until soft, then cool in cold water.

  2. Drain macaroni on a sieve and cut into pieces half an inch long.

Fill and dress

  1. Melt butter in a pan, add macaroni, gravy, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and tongue or Parmesan cheese, and mix well.

  2. Fill shell shells or small fancy forms.

  3. Top with more Parmesan cheese and spread with crayfish or sardine butter.

  4. Sprinkle with grated breadcrumbs and drizzle with oiled butter.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until pale golden, or color them before the fire.

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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Butter + crayfishtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together343 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  4. Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Butter + nutmegtop 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 bulk of the filling and gives the dish its body and chew.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and helping the filling stay moist.
Rich gravy
Supplies moisture and savoury flavour that keeps the filling from drying out.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savoury flavour and browns on top during baking.
Grated breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust over the surface when baked.

The step that matters

Baking until pale golden. The filling is already cooked, so the bake is mainly for browning the surface. Overbaking dries the macaroni and butter and can scorch the breadcrumbs and cheese before the filling is hot through.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, parmesan cheese, crayfish):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, parmesan cheese, crayfish. 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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