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Macaroni “au Gratin.”

A baked macaroni dish with Parmesan and Gruyère cheeses, butter, milk, parsley, onion, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a topping of cheese and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Macaroni “au Gratin.”

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni in salted water until cooked, then pour in cold water to keep it firm and drain.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, blend a little flour into the milk or cream, then add ¼ ounce of butter, parsley, onion, pepper, salt, and nutmeg.

  2. Stir the mixture over heat until thick, then strain through a fine sieve.

Bake and serve

  1. Combine the sauce with the macaroni, most of the cheese, and the butter, then transfer to a buttered baking dish.

  2. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and a little hot butter on top, then bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Parmesan cheese + cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,041 recipes

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

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the body of the dish, holding the sauce and cheese together.
Milk or cream
Makes the base of the sauce, giving it a smooth, moist texture.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the topping brown as it bakes.
Gruyère cheese
Melts into the sauce for a rich, stretchy texture and nutty flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and helps the top turn golden in the oven.

The step that matters

Stirring the sauce until thick. Heat thickens the milk or cream with flour as starch swells. Stirring keeps it smooth and prevents lumps or scorching on the pan bottom.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parmesan cheese, cheese, butter, milk, parsley, pepper, nutmeg. 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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