Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Macaroni Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the macaroni
Wash and break the macaroni into small pieces.
Put the macaroni into a saucepan with hot water and coarse sea salt to cover it, and boil for ten minutes.
Pour off the water, add the milk, and cook slowly until the macaroni is tender.
Make the custard base
Add the butter and sugar.
Transfer the mixture to a basin to cool.
Beat the eggs to a stiff froth.
Mix the beaten eggs thoroughly with the macaroni mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the combined mixture into a greased pie dish.
Grate a little nutmeg over the top.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about twenty minutes until pale brown.
Serve hot or cold.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 pudding and gives it body as it softens in the milk.
- Milk
- Cooks with the macaroni to create the moist, creamy base of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Beaten to a froth, they set when baked and bind the pudding together.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving a softer, more tender texture.
The step that matters
Beating the eggs to a stiff froth. Whipped eggs trap air that helps the pudding rise and set lightly in the oven. If the eggs are under-beaten, or the macaroni mixture is still hot when they are folded in, the eggs can scramble or the pudding can turn out dense.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Gingerfits less well
- Parsleyfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, 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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