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Macaroni Au Gratin

A baked macaroni dish with tomato sauce, cheese, onion, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Boil the macaroni in 4 cups of water for 30 minutes, ensuring the water is boiling when you add the macaroni.

  2. Drain the macaroni and rinse it in cold water.

Assemble

  1. In a bowl, mix the cheese, onion, flour, salt, half of the bread crumbs, and cayenne pepper.

  2. In a greased baking dish, layer the macaroni and the cheese mixture alternately.

  3. Pour the strained tomatoes over the layers, shaking the dish to settle the mixture.

  4. Sprinkle the remaining bread crumbs on top and dot with butter.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. 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 starchy body of the dish, holding the layers together as it cooks.
Grated cheese
Melts into the layers, adding richness and a savoury, binding texture.
Strained tomatoes
Supply moisture and acidity that soften the pasta as the dish bakes.
Flour
Thickens the cheese mixture so it clings to the pasta rather than running off.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping through browning in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the topping brown and gives a rich flavour.

The step that matters

Boil the macaroni in plenty of already-boiling water. Starting the pasta in boiling water helps it cook evenly and keeps it from turning sticky or clumping, so it holds its shape under the baked layers.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cheese, flour, bread, pepper, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cheese, flour, bread, pepper, butter. 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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