Name: Baked Macaroni or Spaghetti
Ingredients: 1 cup macaroni; 1 cup cheese; 1½ cups cream sauce (made from 1½ cups milk, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ cup flour, dash of red pepper, and ⅓ cup butter); 1 cup buttered bread crumbs

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 ↓

Baked Macaroni or Spaghetti

Ingredients

1 cup macaroni
1 cup cheese
1½ cups cream sauce (made from 1½ cups milk, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ cup flour, dash of red pepper, and ⅓ cup butter)
1 cup buttered bread crumbs

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.

Prepare the sauce

Cook the macaroni according to package instructions and drain.
In a saucepan, melt the butter, then whisk in the flour, salt, and red pepper until smooth.
Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens.
Remove from heat and stir in the cheese until melted.

Assemble and bake

In a baking pan, layer the macaroni, then pour the cheese sauce over it.
Top with buttered bread crumbs.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until the top is golden brown.

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.

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 pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

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 chewy structure of the baked dish.
Cheese: Melts into the sauce to give richness and a savory flavor.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the sauce and helps the bread crumbs brown.
Flour: Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that coats the macaroni.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the cream sauce, giving it body and creaminess.

The step that matters

Adding the milk to the roux. Adding milk gradually while stirring constantly keeps the flour smooth and lets the starch thicken the sauce evenly without lumps.

“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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

Macaroni and Cheese102 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

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Baked Macaroni or Spaghetti