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Macaroni Pudding

A baked macaroni and minced meat pudding steamed with eggs, milk, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the macaroni in stock or water until tender.

  2. Mince the cold meat finely and season with parsley, pepper, and salt.

  3. Grease a pudding basin or mold with butter.

Assemble and steam

  1. Layer the macaroni and minced meat in the basin, seasoning each layer.

  2. Beat the eggs and milk together, then pour over the layered mixture.

  3. Cover with buttered paper and steam for one hour.

Serve

  1. Carefully turn out of the basin and serve with brown gravy or white sauce.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the layers and set into a firm, sliceable custard as they cook.
Macaroni
Forms the starchy body of the pudding, giving it bulk and a soft, tender texture.
Cold meat
Supplies the savoury filling, adding flavour and substance between the pasta layers.
Milk
Moistens the mixture with the beaten eggs, keeping the pudding tender rather than dry.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the finished pudding when served.

The step that matters

Steaming the pudding. Steam gently and keep the water from boiling hard into the basin. Eggs set into a custard at moderate heat; too much heat makes the pudding spongy or cracked and watery.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, pepper, egg, milk, butter):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, pepper, egg, milk, butter. 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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