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Macaroni Cheese

A baked macaroni dish with cheese, milk, egg, butter, and breadcrumb topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Macaroni Cheese

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 ↓

Macaroni Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Boil the macaroni

  1. Boil plenty of salted water in a pot.

  2. Add macaroni and cook for about 20 minutes until done.

  3. Strain the macaroni.

  4. Break the macaroni slightly with the edge of a bowl.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a basin, combine macaroni, cheese, diluted milk, pepper, salt, beaten egg, and butter.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a well-buttered baking dish.

  3. Sprinkle more cheese and browned breadcrumbs on top.

  4. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.

  5. If the top isn't browned enough, cover with a tin of hot embers.

  6. Fan until done.

  7. Avoid overbaking to prevent dryness.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 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 gives it a firm, pasta-based structure.
Cheese
Provides rich flavour and melts into the sauce to bind the dish together.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, turning the cheese into a smooth sauce.
Egg
Sets during baking, helping the custard-like mixture firm up and hold together.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps keep the dish from sticking to the baking dish.
Breadcrumbs
Toast on top during baking, adding a crisp, golden browned crust.

The step that matters

Avoid overbaking. Egg proteins set as the dish heats, and prolonged baking squeezes out moisture, so the mac and cheese turns dry and grainy. Pull it once the top is golden and the centre is just set.

“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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