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Macaroni and Tomato Sauce

A simple pasta dish of boiled macaroni topped with tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,469 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Macaroni and Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the macaroni into four-inch pieces.

Cook

  1. Boil salted water in a pot and add the macaroni.

  2. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until tender, then drain.

Serve

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

  2. Serve immediately while hot.

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. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 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 a starchy, chewy texture when cooked until tender.
Tomato sauce
Adds moisture and a tangy, savory flavor that coats the pasta.

The step that matters

Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until tender, then drain. Pasta keeps softening from residual heat, so draining at the right point prevents it from becoming mushy and keeps its texture intact.

“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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