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Timbale of Maccaroni

A baked dish of macaroni, butter, cheese, eggs, bread crumbs, and minced meat pressed into a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Timbale of Maccaroni

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Break the macaroni into very short lengths and cook until slightly overdone.

  2. Drain and dress with butter and grated cheese.

  3. Mix in 1 or 2 eggs, depending on the quantity.

Assemble the timbale

  1. Butter a plain mold and coat it with bread crumbs.

  2. When the macaroni is nearly cold, fill the mold, pressing it down and leaving a hollow in the center.

  3. Fill the hollow with well-flavored minced meat, poultry, or game.

  4. Top with more macaroni, pressing it down again.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until heated through.

  2. Turn out 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Small macaroni
Forms the bulk and structure of the timbale, holding its shape when packed and turned out.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the pasta, and helps the mold release cleanly.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps bind the pasta together as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the macaroni so the timbale holds its shape when turned out and sliced.
Bread crumbs
Coat the mold to give the outside a light, crisp surface and help release.
Minced meat, poultry, or game
Provides the savory, well-flavored filling at the center of the timbale.

The step that matters

Let the macaroni cool nearly before filling the mold. Eggs in the macaroni set when heated, so packing it while still very hot can cause it to scramble or cook unevenly. Letting it cool nearly fully keeps the eggs from setting prematurely, so the pasta packs firmly and holds its shape once baked and turned out.

“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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