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To Boil Macaroni

A simple boiled macaroni dish with onion, clove, butter, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,901 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

To Boil Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the macaroni into convenient lengths and wipe it with a clean cloth.

Cook

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt, the onion with the clove stuck in it, and 2 tablespoons of butter.

  2. Add the macaroni to the boiling water.

  3. Cook for 12 to 25 minutes, depending on the age of the macaroni, testing occasionally.

  4. When the macaroni yields easily, stop the boiling by adding 1 pint of cold water.

  5. Drain the macaroni in a colander and serve.

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. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Clove + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,045 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and soft as it cooks in boiling water.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the cooking water.

The step that matters

Testing the macaroni for doneness. Macaroni age changes how long it takes to cook, so the 12 to 25 minute range is wide. Testing occasionally and stopping the boil once it yields easily prevents it from becoming overcooked and mushy.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, butter):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, 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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