The Magical Properties of Macaroni and Cheese

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and walked to school daily until 5th grade when my family moved to a school system which had a busing program.
I have lots of fond, cozy memories of my mother serving me macaroni and cheese. Now I will admit that my mother is not a gourmet cook, but there is something about the warm cheese, and the elbow macaroni that defines home.

Since my mom is not a gourmet cook, she bought a lot of Kraft products which I still buy to this day because they are what I was brought up on. But to get a truly yummy mac and cheese, you need to make it from scratch.

And just a question, but who was the first to partner the macaroni and the cheese?




We Called It Macaroni

250 superb recipes based on robust flavors southern Italian immigrants brought to the northeast U.S.

This recipe comes directly from the Kraft website.

Prep Time:
15 min
Total Time:
35 min
Makes:
4 (1-cup) servings
3/4 lb. (12 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut up
1/3 cup milk 2 cups (8 oz.) elbow macaroni, cooked, drained
Dash ground black pepper
MIX prepared cheese product and milk in medium saucepan; cook on low heat until smooth, stirring frequently.

STIR in macaroni and pepper. Spoon into 1-quart casserole.

BAKE at 350°F for 20 minutes. Garnish with green onion curls.

Macaroni and Cheese
A little history of Macaroni and Cheese
By Diana Rattray, About.com

It probably wouldn't be on the menu for your mother-in-law's first dinner visit, and it isn't exactly gourmet fare, but macaroni and cheese is one of the most popular--if not the most popular--American comfort foods. Nearly every soul food cookbook and many Southern cookbooks have recipes for the American favorite, with few differences from one to the next.
Some believe the dish was created by founding father Thomas Jefferson, known for his great interest in food, and in a 1996 "Restaurants & Institutions" article, Barbara Bell Matuszewski wrote that Jefferson served the dish in the White House in 1802. However, noted food historian Karen Hess claims Jefferson did not invent the dish, though he did return from a trip to Paris with a macaroni mold. In the Featured Recipes, you'll find a recipe for the dish from Mary Randolph's (Jefferson's cousin) "The Virginia Housewife," first published in 1824.

According to John Mariani, author of "The Dictionary of American Food and Drink," macaroni and cheese was first made in the nineteenth century, but it took on a even greater popularity when Kraft Foods introduced the Kraft Dinner (macaroni and cheese) in 1937. According to a company spokesperson, Kraft now sells more than one million boxes of the dinners every day! The Kraft dinners are so popular, in fact, that children and some adults have been known to turn up their noses when offered a rich and delicious homemade version.

Homemade macaroni and cheese can be a simple layering of cooked macaroni, shredded (or sliced) cheese and salt and pepper, or it can be made with a white sauce-cheese base, topped with more cheese and buttered crumbs before baking. This ever-so-humble dish is delicious and satisfying as is, but you can jazz it up (homemade or package version) with the addition of chopped vegetables, meat, fish or poultry, or your favorite herbs or spices. Try one of our featured recipes or one of the recipes on the Net links page. Don't hesitate to add your own special touch!

A creamy macaroni and cheese recipe, made with Cheddar cheese sauce, cooked macaroni, and seasonings. Top this with buttered bread crumbs, if you wish.
Ingredients:
5 cups cooked macaroni (8 ounces raw)
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 pepper, or to taste
2 cups milk
3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
paprika, optional
Preparation:
In a saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir flour into the butter until smooth and bubbly. Stir in salt. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. continue to cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add cheese and continue to cook and stir until melted. In an 8x10-inch baking dish, alternate layers of macaroni and cheese sauce. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
Serves 6.

Cooking.com

Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: For Whom the Cheese Melts 2

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Maytag Blue Mac and Cheese Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2005
Show: Emeril Live
Episode: Food of Love with Queen Latifah

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
Freshly ground white pepper
1/2 pound crumbled blue cheese (recommended: Maytag)
2 egg yolks, beaten
Dash hot sauce (recommended: Crystal)
Salt
1 pound small pasta shells, cooked until al dente
1 cup fine dried bread crumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a large shallow baking pan with 1 teaspoon of the butter.
In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, 1/2 cup at a time. Season with white pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese and egg yolks. Season with the hot sauce and salt if needed.

In a large mixing bowl, toss the pasta with the sauce. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. In a small mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Sprinkle the pasta with the bread crumbs. Bake until the top is golden and bubbly, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Yamazaki Hafnia Stainless Serving Spoon

Freshly made bread crumbs are the key to achieving a crisp, golden crust, the hallmark of perfect macaroni and cheese. You can make bread crumbs from slices of stale or fresh bread. Arrange the slices in a single layer on a baking sheet, place in a 300ºF oven, and bake until they are completely dried and lightly toasted, 20 to 35 minutes. In a food processor, pulse the bread until the crumbs reach the desired consistency, then season with salt and pepper. You can also flavor them with butter or extra-virgin olive oil and fresh herbs or minced garlic.

Feel free to substitute another cheese for the cheddar. Gruyère, fontina and Emmentaler are good choices.

Ingredients:
4 cups milk
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 whole clove
1 bay leaf
1 white onion, peeled
2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
Salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
2 tsp. dry sherry
1 lb. dried macaroni
1 cup bread crumbs

Directions:
Position a rack in the upper third of an oven and preheat to 375°F. Butter a shallow 2-quart baking dish.

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until bubbles begin to form around the edges of the pan. Keep warm.

To make the roux, in another medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. When the foaming subsides, add the flour and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon, until the flour and butter thicken into a paste and smell fragrant, about 1 minute. Do not let the roux brown. Slowly whisk in the milk until smooth and blended. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom and sides of the pan to prevent lumping and scorching, then reduce the heat to low.

Using the clove, attach the bay leaf to the onion and add it to the sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard the onion, add 1 cup of the cheese and stir until blended. Season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg, add the sherry and stir until blended.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot three-fourths full of water to a boil over high heat. Add 1 Tbs. salt and the macaroni and cook according to the package instructions until al dente (tender but firm to the bite). Drain well.

Transfer the macaroni to the prepared dish. Spoon the sauce over the macaroni, scatter the remaining 1 cup cheese over the top and sprinkle the bread crumbs over the cheese. Bake, uncovered, until lightly browned and bubbling, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

Martha Stewart's Creamy Mac-and-Cheese
Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics

Now, please be warned, this makes a ton-a mac-and-cheese. Not interested in going on an all-mac, all-the-time diet this week, but wishing to try the recipe at last, I halved it and guess what? We still had three dinner's worth of mac-and-cheese, or a full six servings. Which is, of course, what the recipe said it would make if halved, but I was in denial.

This is particularly delicious with a big, crunchy salad and a steamed vegetable, like green beans or broccoli.

Serves 12

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for casserole
6 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to l/2-inch pieces
5 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for water
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyère or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place the bread in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside.

2. Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

3. While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk a little at a time to keep mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick, 8 to 12 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyère (or 1 cup Pecorino Romano); set the cheese sauce aside.

5. Cover a large pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyère (or 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano), and the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes (though we needed a bit more time to get it brown, but your oven may vary). Transfer the dish to a wire rack for 5 minutes; serve.

The Winter Cook
Macaroni and Lots of Cheese

By JULIA MOSKIN
Published: January 4, 2006
Macaroni and cheese is just the kind of all-American, old-fashioned home cooking I was not raised on.
No need to get fancy: Elbow macaroni is the best pasta, and there is no better topping than another handful of cheese.
New York City in the 1970's was a hotbed of culinary radicalism. Food-forward parents like mine served dinners of homemade falafel, Mediterranean fish stew or stir-fried beef with broccoli. To me, dishes like spaghetti and meatballs, mashed potatoes with gravy and macaroni and cheese seemed exotic and unattainable.

Naturally, this is where my greatest passions lie as a cook. And after the frenzy of holiday cooking, a simple dish like macaroni and cheese is just what I want to make now.

Lacking a family recipe, I turned to cookbooks for guidance. A strange substance called "white sauce" cropped up again and again. Bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce and alien cheeses like smoked gouda and parmigiano also kept finding their way in. None of the recipes came close to my fantasy of what the dish should be: nothing more than tender elbows of pasta suspended in pure molten cheddar, with a chewy, golden-brown crust of cheese on top.

While reading the following passage in a 20-year-old cookbook called "Simple Cooking," the problem became clear:

" A good dish of macaroni and cheese is hard to find these days. The recipes in most cookbooks are not to be trusted...usually it is their vexatious infatuation with white sauce, a noxious paste of flour-thickened milk, for this dish flavored with a tiny grating of cheese. Contrary to popular belief, this is not macaroni and cheese but macaroni with cheese sauce. It is awful stuff and every cookbook in which it appears should be thrown out the window."

The book's author, John Thorne, still adheres to this position, but said that he has largely given up the fight. "Starting at about the turn of the 20th century, there was a huge fashion for white sauce in America - chafing-dish stuff like chicken à la king, or creamed onions," he said last week. "They were cheap and seemed elegant, and their legacy is that people choose 'creamy' over everything else. But I maintain that macaroni and cheese should be primarily cheesy."

Marlena Spieler, author of a forthcoming book, "Macaroni and Cheese" (Chronicle), agreed that most recipes simply do not have enough cheese. "I believe in making a cheese sauce and also using shredded cheese," she said.

But she refuses to forgo white sauce altogether. "You need a little goo to keep the pasta and cheese together," she said. Having made a global study of the subject, she ticked off a list of alternative binders: mascarpone, crème fraîche, eggs, heavy cream, egg yolks, cottage cheese, butter and evaporated milk, which she deems a little too sweet but "delightfully trashy."

Like me, Ms. Spieler believes that macaroni and cheese, which is often served alongside fried chicken or barbecue, deserves pride of place as a main dish. "I love it so much that I want to focus on it," she said. A crisp green salad and a glass of wine turn mac and cheese into a meal, she added.

I first made Mr. Thorne's recipe, a step in the right direction: it combines a whole pound of cheddar cheese with half a pound of macaroni. But the method, which entails taking the dish out of the oven every five minutes to stir in more cheese, is tiresome. And so, armed with the knowledge that a seemingly outrageous 2:1 ratio of cheese to macaroni is indeed possible, I set out in search of the ideal recipe.

At cheese counters across New York City, complex blends of pungent, unaged, rind-washed and cave-ripened cheeses have been devised for makers of macaroni and cheese. Rob Kaufelt, who owns Murray's Cheese in Greenwich Village, counsels a 30-50-20 blend of Swiss Gruyère, young Irish cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano, or a blend of English cheddars. At Artisanal, cooks are steered toward the softness of Italian fontina and Welsh Caerphilly.



These are all indisputably glorious cheeses. But they do not all belong in a casserole dish. An impromptu focus group of children living in my apartment building showed a strong preference for the cheddar family. Ultimately, I found, the dirty little secret of an honest macaroni and cheese is often American cheese.

American cheese is simply cheddar or colby that is ground and emulsified with water, said Bonnie Chlebecek, a test kitchen manager at Land O'Lakes in Arden Hills, Minn.

"The process denatures the proteins in the cheese," she said, "which in plain English means that it won't clump up or get grainy when you melt it. With natural cheese, it's much harder to get a smooth melt." The cheese industry and the Food and Drug Administration call a cheese "natural" if it has been produced from milk, as cheddar and mozzarella (and virtually all other nonindustrial cheeses) are.



Plain American cheese, labeled pasteurized process cheese, contains the most natural cheese and is the best for cooking. American cheese derivatives are made from cheese and additives like sodium phosphates (acids that promote melting), nonfat dry milk and carrageenan. In descending order of their relationship to natural cheese, they are cheese food, cheese spread (such as Velveeta) and cheese product.

Daphne Mahoney, the Jamaican-born owner of Daphne's Caribbean Express in Manhattan's East Village, makes a wonderfully dense version of macaroni and cheese that combines American cheese with extra-sharp cheddar. Macaroni pie is hugely popular in the Caribbean, especially on islands like Jamaica and Barbados that once received regular stocks of cheddar from other members of the British commonwealth: Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

"We put a little pepper in it to spice it up," she said. "But as long as you don't make the macaroni soggy, and you use plenty of cheese, it will be good."

The macaroni must not be slippery and soft, but firm and substantial. This is not the time to bring out your whole-wheat penne and artisanal orecchiette: elbow pasta is the way to go.

One of the most surprising recipes I tried called for uncooked pasta. Full of doubt, I mixed raw elbow noodles with a sludge of cottage cheese, milk and grated cheese. The result was stunning: the noodles obediently absorbed the liquid as they cooked, encasing themselves in fluffy cheese and a crust of deep rich brown.

The last decision - to top or not to top - is easily dispensed with. Resist the temptation to fiddle around with bread crumbs, corn flakes, tortilla chips and other ingredients that have nothing to do with the dish. When there is enough cheese in and on top of your creation, a brown, crisp crust of toasted cheese will form naturally. There is nothing more delicious.

The moral of the story: When in doubt, add more cheese.




igourmet 2-lb. New England Cheese Assortment

It is always amazing to me how much our moods are based on what we eat, and how much of that is what we grew up with.
Macaroni and cheese is still a basic food group in our house and my children eat it at least once a week.
Just the thought of sitting down to a hot dish of mac and cheese is enough to put me in a good mood.

Here is one more recipe I just discovered:

Blue Cheese Mac & Cheese
makes 8 servings

1 pound penne pasta
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups whole milk
1 cup whipping cream
3 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 cups blue cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13×9 baking pan.

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until tender, but still al dente. Drain and leave in strainer until the sauce is ready.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour to make a roux and stir constantly to let the flour cook, but not burn.

Gradually whisk in milk and cream. Simmer until mixture thickens, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low and add grated cheddar cheese (reserving 1/2 cup for sprinkling on top before baking) and crumbled blue cheese. Whisk until cheese melts, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add cooked pasta to sauce, stir to coat. Transfer mixture to prepare baking pan and sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese. Bake until golden brown on top (sauce will begin to be bubbling), about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

I just saw this recipe, and had to add it to this lens. I can't wait to try it myself.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 Tbs kosher salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cup shredded monteray jack cheese
4 oz cream cheese cubed

Directions:

Cook macaronic al dente, and drain.
Toss in some olive oil.
Mix eggs, cream, milk, and seasonings together.
Stir in cheeses and macaroni well.
Spread mixture in pan.
Place the cubes of cream cheese on top.
Bake 350 degree oven for 5 minutes,
Carefully spread melted cream cheese over top.
Bake about 40 to 45 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Place under broiler (3 inches from heat) about 2 minutes to brown the top.
Let stand 10 to 20 minutes before serving.

Ingredients:
6 cups cooked macaroni
2 packages cheese sauce mix
1 can green chiles, whole or diced
1 medium onion, diced
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cups milk
4 ounces butter

Preparation:
Put precooked macaroni in a casserole dish. In a medium sauce pan make cheese sauce according to package directions. Add 1 cup of cheese and diced green chiles. In a small frying pan saute onion in butter until transparent. Add to cheese sauce. Add cheese sauce mix to macaroni and mix. Top with the whole green chiles (unless using diced) Top with remaining cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. May put under broiler to crisp cheese.

I finally found a lower fat version of macaroni and cheese that sounded interesting. Let me know what you think.

By Kyle Shadix
New York, New York

Comfort food means macaroni and cheese for a lot of people. I'm one of them. It was a favorite of mine growing up in the South. It's still a favorite, only now I've developed a more sophisticated version using goat cheese, which is naturally lower in fat, cholesterol and calories than cheese made from cow's milk, yet still has a rich, creamy flavor. And there's no baking involved, which means you don't have to wait to dig in!

INGREDIENTS
1 pound macaroni (or your favorite shape of pasta), cooked (about 1 box)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups skim (fat-free) milk
salt
freshly ground white pepper
12 ounces soft white goat cheese, sliced into chunks
1 bunch fresh chives

PREPARATION
1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

2. When butter starts to sizzle, add flour and stir constantly until the paste bubbles a bit. Continue to stir until the flour has cooked for about 1 minute but is not burned or too brown. This mixture, called a roux, will smell slightly nutty.

3. Add milk all at once, continuing to stir as the sauce thickens.

4. Bring sauce to a boil. Turn off the burner.

5. Add goat cheese chunks and allow to melt.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir until dissolved. Pour sauce over cooked pasta.

7. Finely chop chives.

8. Place pasta in a serving bowl. Garnish with chopped chives, and dig in!

Chef de Cuisine and registered dietitian Kyle Shadix knows good food. He's a Culinary Institute of America graduate and has an M.S. in nutrition.