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 ↓
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.
Prepare the macaroni
Break macaroni into 2-inch lengths.
Boil in salted water until tender, about 20 minutes.
Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water.
Assemble and bake
Layer macaroni in a buttered dish.
Mix mustard and half the cheese into the white sauce, then pour over the macaroni.
Melt butter and mix with bread crumbs and remaining cheese, then spread over the top.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until nicely browned.
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.
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Sauce + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,120 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Macaroni
- Forms the bulk and structure of the dish, holding the sauce between its pieces.
- Cheese
- Provides richness, flavor and a creamy, stretchy texture when melted into the sauce.
- White sauce
- Supplies moisture and creaminess that coats the pasta and keeps it from drying out.
- Stale bread crumbs
- Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven, adding contrast to the soft interior.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the bread crumbs brown and gives a rich flavor.
The step that matters
Drain and rinse the macaroni well after boiling. Cooked pasta keeps cooking from residual heat, so draining and cooling it stops it going soft and mushy before baking, which keeps the final texture firm.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, sauce, butter, bread):
- Tomatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Onionfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, sauce, butter, bread. 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.
More macaroni and cheese recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Oatmeal Bread51 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.