Name: Tuna Noodles
Ingredients: 1-2 lbs flat wide noodles; 1 ½ cups medium white sauce; 1 can tuna (medium size); ¼ lb grated cheese; 1 small can pimiento; butter for greasing; buttered bread crumbs for topping

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 ↓

Tuna Noodles

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

Cook the noodles according to package instructions.
In a large bowl, combine the cooked noodles, white sauce, tuna, grated cheese, and pimiento.
Transfer the mixture to a greased baking dish.

Bake

Top with buttered bread crumbs.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until the top is brown.

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).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,338 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce + cheesetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,987 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Flat wide noodles: Provide the starchy base that holds the sauce and tuna together in the casserole.
White sauce: Adds moisture and creaminess so the baked dish stays tender rather than dry.
Tuna: Supplies the main protein and savoury flavour of the dish.
Grated cheese: Melts into the sauce for richness and helps the top brown during baking.
Buttered bread crumbs: Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven, adding contrast in texture.

“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.