Name: Macaroni and Chebse
Ingredients: ½ pound macaroni, broken into one-inch lengths; 3 pints boiling salted water; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 tablespoon flour; 1½ cups milk; salt to taste; grated cheese; bread crumbs

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 ↓

Macaroni and Chebse

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

Cook the macaroni in boiling salted water for 20 minutes.
Drain and rinse the macaroni with cold water.

Make the sauce

In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour to make a roux.
Gradually add the milk, stirring until the sauce thickens. Season with salt.

Assemble and bake

In a baking dish, layer macaroni, sauce, and grated cheese until full.
Top with bread crumbs and a little cheese.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni: Forms the bulk and structure of the dish, giving it body under the sauce.
Butter: Enriches the sauce with fat and carries flavour into the roux.
Flour: Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked with the butter as a roux.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens as it heats with the roux.
Grated cheese: Melts into the sauce for savoury richness and a stretchy, browned topping.
Bread crumbs: Forms a crisp topping that browns in the oven, adding texture contrast.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce. Add the milk gradually and keep stirring so the flour in the roux disperses evenly. Lumps form if the liquid is added too quickly, and the sauce only thickens fully once it reaches a simmer.

“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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Macaroni and Chebse