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Macaroni Cheese

A baked macaroni dish with cheese, mustard, béchamel or tomato sauce, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Macaroni Cheese

Why it works: Tomato and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,592 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Macaroni Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Break the macaroni into 1-inch lengths and cook in boiling water for about 25 minutes until tender. Drain well.

Make the sauce

  1. Make the sauce by melting 1 oz butter and mixing it with 1 oz flour, then add ½ pint milk or tomato pulp.

Assemble and bake

  1. Combine the sauce with the macaroni and about ¾ of the grated cheese. Season to taste.

  2. Pour the mixture into a pie dish or china soufflé case and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

  3. Bake in a 400 °F (200 °C) oven for about 10 minutes until nicely browned.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Tomato + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,816 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Mustard + tomatotop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,482 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cheese + tomatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 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

Naples macaroni
Forms the body of the dish and holds the sauce and cheese together.
Grated cheese
Adds rich flavour and melts into the sauce, then browns on top.
Made mustard
Adds a sharp, savoury note that balances the richness of the cheese.
Béchamel or tomato sauce
Supplies moisture and a smooth, creamy coating for the pasta.

The step that matters

Drain the macaroni well. Leftover cooking water dilutes the sauce and makes the finished dish watery and loose, so excess water should be removed before mixing.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, mustard, tomato):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, mustard, tomato. 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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