Why it works: Tomato and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,918 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Macaroni with Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the water, salted to taste.
Add the macaroni and the mashed tomatoes.
Boil hard for 1 hour.
Add the butter, then set back and let it steep for 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve.
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.
-
Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Macaroni
- Forms the body of the dish, absorbing the tomato liquid as it cooks until tender.
- Tomatoes
- Supply moisture and acidity, breaking down into the sauce that coats the pasta.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Boil hard for 1 hour. A long, vigorous boil with the tomatoes breaks them down into a sauce while the macaroni softens. Too gentle a simmer leaves the pasta firm and the sauce thin and watery.
“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.
More macaroni with tomato sauce recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Tomato Bisque61 recipes
Cream Tomato Soup28 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.