Macaroni and cheese: Noodles to everything else ratio (need answer fast!)

Cafe Society
#1

I’ve gotten really good at making macaroni and cheese, particularly the cheese sauce, but I’m still a little off on the ratio of noodles to cheese sauce. Either I make too few noodles or far too many. I have not heretofore been measuring the amount of noodles I’ve been putting in; this will change.

My other ingredients:

3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups milk

It will feed two people, with each of us having seconds.

So, how many noodles should I use, as measured in cups? Need answer fast, please; I’ll be cooking the food within an hour.

#2

A plateful (one serving) of pasta weighs at least 200 grams. That’s 100 grams when dry. Ratio of primary sauce ingredient to DRY pasta is 1:1.

#3

So, 3 cups of macaroni noodles, then?

#4

That will become six cups when cooked. Ok for two hungry people.

#5

Thank you! I’ll let you know how it turns out! (I’d PM you some macaroni if we’d perfected that technology yet.)

#6

I make mine with 2 cups of uncooked noodles and about the same amount of milk/butter/flour as you.

#7

3 cups was good; one big hearty first portion and a smaller second portion, with leftovers. 2 might be better for next time. Will experiment. Thank you both!

#8

My formula is

1 cup dry macaroni
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 heaping tablespoon flour

and enough Lawry’s seasoned salt to make the béchamel slightly orange.

#9

A box or two of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, a spoonful of margarine (‘spoon’ being a kitchen spoon for cooking with), two spoons of milk per box of KM&C, a slice of American cheese per box of KM&C, and a handful of Tillamook medium cheddar cheese. (And a little blue cheese if there’s any in the fridge.)

One of these days I’ll make macaroni and cheese from scratch; but around here the point is a quick, easy, tasty side-dish (or main dish for tuna mac).