Name: Potage De Macaroni a LA Virgile
Ingredients: 12 ounces Naples macaroni; little salt; little butter; 12 eggs; little double cream; 2 small pats of butter; 6 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated; little pepper; consomme

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Potage De Macaroni a LA Virgile

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

Cook the macaroni in salted water until firm, then strain it.

Make the soup

In a bowl, whisk the eggs and pass them through a sieve.
Mix the eggs with double cream, butter, Parmesan, and pepper.
Gradually stir in the consommé until smooth.
Heat gently, avoiding boiling to prevent curdling.

Serve

Serve the cheese separately on a plate.

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Cream + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,566 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Thicken the soup as they set gently, giving it a smooth, body-rich texture.
Parmesan cheese: Adds salty, savoury flavour and richness to the soup.
Double cream: Adds fat, creating a softer, silkier mouthfeel.
Naples macaroni: Provides the starchy pasta pieces that give the soup its substance.

The step that matters

Heat gently, avoiding boiling. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures; boiling makes them tighten and separate, causing the soup to curdle and lose its smooth texture.

“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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Potage De Macaroni a LA Virgile