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Macaroni

A baked macaroni casserole with ham, eggs, butter, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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.

Prepare

  1. Cook macaroni in slightly salted boiling water for about an hour until soft.

  2. Drain the macaroni and layer it in a buttered cake tin with minced ham, seasoning each layer with pepper and salt.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the eggs and mix with milk.

  2. Melt the butter and pour it over the macaroni and ham, then pour the egg mixture on top.

  3. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

  4. Serve very hot.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the starchy base that holds the casserole together when cooked until soft.
Eggs
Set when baked, binding the macaroni and ham into a firm, sliceable custard-like casserole.
Milk
Loosens the egg mixture and adds moisture so the custard stays tender as it sets.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and helping the top and edges brown gently.
Finely minced ham
Provides savoury, salty flavour distributed through every layer of the casserole.

The step that matters

Cook the macaroni until soft. Pasta that is undercooked stays firm and will not soften further in the oven, while overcooked pasta turns mushy; it should be tender before layering because baking only sets the egg custard.

“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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