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Tuna Casserole

A baked casserole of noodles, tuna, cheese, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Tuna Casserole

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

  1. Cook the noodles in chicken broth, adding enough water to prevent stiffness.

  2. Butter a casserole dish.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer noodles, then add a thin layer of tuna and sprinkle with cheese.

  2. Repeat layering until the dish is full.

  3. Top with bread crumbs and additional grated cheese.

  4. Bake in the oven until the cheese is well melted at 350°F (175°C).

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

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

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

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

  3. Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,258 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

  4. Chicken + cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,936 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Fine egg noodles
Form the bulk of the casserole and absorb broth, giving a soft, tender texture.
Chicken broth
Cooks the noodles and adds savory moisture to the dish.
Tuna
Supplies the main protein and savory flavor in each layer.
Grated cheese
Melts to bind the layers together and add richness and browning.
Flour
Thickens the sauce, giving the casserole body and structure.

The step that matters

Adding enough water while cooking the noodles. Noodles cooked only in broth can absorb liquid and turn stiff during baking. Adding enough water keeps them tender, so the casserole stays moist and soft rather than dry.

“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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