Name: Fish and Macaroni Scallop
Ingredients: cold cooked fish; cold boiled macaroni; Tomato Sauce

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 ↓

Fish and Macaroni Scallop

Ingredients

cold cooked fish
cold boiled macaroni
Tomato Sauce

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Butter a baking dish.

Assemble and bake

Layer equal parts of cold cooked fish and cold boiled macaroni in the dish.
For every pint of the mixture, add 1 cup of Tomato Sauce.
Bake until heated through.
Serve warm.

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.

Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,469 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Fish + tomatotop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together213 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hepten-3-one (metal).
Fish + saucetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,487 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

Cold cooked fish: Provides the main protein and body of the dish.
Cold boiled macaroni: Adds bulk and a soft, starchy texture that holds the layers together.
Tomato sauce: Adds moisture and acidity so the dish does not dry out while baking.