Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cook the macaroni according to package instructions; drain.
Make the cheese sauce
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and mustard powder; cook for 1 minute.
Gradually whisk in the milk; cook until thickened.
Remove from heat and stir in the cheese until melted.
Bake and serve
Combine the cheese sauce with the macaroni; mix well.
Transfer to a baking dish and top with breadcrumbs.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbly.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Macaroni
- Forms the bulk of the dish and holds the sauce in its hollows and curves.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the flour thickens into a smooth, creamy sauce.
- Shredded cheese
- Melts into the sauce to give rich flavour and a stretchy, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavour, and forms the base for the roux with the flour.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked with the butter and then the milk.
- Breadcrumbs
- Toasts in the oven to form a crisp, golden topping.
The step that matters
Gradually whisk in the milk. Adding milk slowly to the butter and flour mixture lets the starch disperse evenly, preventing lumps and giving a smooth, thick sauce.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cheese, butter, flour, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cheese, butter, flour, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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