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Macaroni a LA Milanaise

A macaroni dish with Gruyere, Parmesan, nutmeg, pepper, cream, topped with tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Gruyere cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Macaroni a LA Milanaise

Ingredients

Directions

Make the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni according to package instructions until al dente.

Make the cheese sauce

  1. In a clean saucepan, combine the Gruyere cheese, Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, pepper, and cream.

  2. Stir over low heat for 3 to 5 minutes until the cheeses melt.

  3. Add the boiled macaroni and stir for 3 minutes to combine.

Serve

  1. Arrange the macaroni in a dome shape on a hot dish and pour the tomato sauce over it.

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. Gruyere cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together152 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Parmesan cheese + tomatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,490 recipes

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

  5. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it its firm, chewy structure.
Gruyere cheese
Melts into the cream to give the sauce a smooth, rich body and savory flavor.
Parmesan cheese
Adds sharp, salty flavor and helps the sauce cling to the pasta.
Cream
Adds moisture and fat so the melted cheeses form a smooth, pourable sauce.

The step that matters

Melting the cheeses over low heat. High heat makes the cheese proteins tighten and separate, leaving the sauce grainy and oily. Gentle heat keeps it smooth and cohesive.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gruyere cheese, parmesan cheese, pepper, cream, tomato, sauce):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Basilfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gruyere cheese, parmesan cheese, pepper, cream, tomato, sauce. 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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