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Macaroni and Meat Shape

A steamed pudding made with macaroni, cooked meat, breadcrumbs, herbs, and milk or water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Macaroni and Meat Shape

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Place the macaroni in a pan of cold water and bring to a boil.

  2. Cook for about 20 minutes until soft but not pulpy, then drain and let cool.

Assemble the pudding

  1. Chop the meat finely and mix it with the crumbs, herbs, salt, pepper, and water.

  2. Grease a small pudding bowl and line the bottom with some macaroni.

  3. Add some of the meat mixture, then gradually line the basin with more macaroni, placing more meat in the middle.

  4. If any macaroni is left, place it on top of the meat.

Steam and serve

  1. Cover the basin tightly with well-greased paper and steam for 30 to 45 minutes.

  2. Turn out onto a dish and serve 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. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

  3. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

  4. Meat + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,703 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the lining and structure of the pudding, holding the meat mixture in shape.
Scraps of cooked meat
Provides the main savoury filling and body of the pudding.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help bind the meat mixture together.
Dripping
Adds fat and richness to the dish.

The step that matters

Cook the macaroni until soft but not pulpy. Macaroni that is undercooked stays firm and will not line the basin well, while overcooked pasta turns mushy and loses its shape when steamed and turned out.

“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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