For the purpose of this thread, all milk and/or gluten intolerances/allergies are cast aside…as are all those who don’t like mac and cheese (if this ain’t your thread, then this ain’t your thread).
What kind of macaroni?
What kind(s) of cheese?
What spices, if any?
What other ingredients (burger, bacon, chickpeas, chocolate chips etc), if any?
Baked, boiled, set in deep hole in the back yard and buried overnight etc.?
1 pound macaroni pasta such as shells or cavatappi (just enough to cover the bottom of the Instant Pot)
3 cups water (just enough to cover the noodles)
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 5- ounce can evaporated milk
2 cups shredded medium or sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups soft white cheese such as smoked Gouda or havarti (four slices at thickness level 2)
STEPS
In the insert of an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, add the macaroni, water, butter, and kosher salt.
Cook in the pressure cooker for 5 minutes on high, then quick release.
Add the evaporated milk and half of the cheeses and use a wooden spoon to vigorously stir until the cheeses have melted then repeat with the rest of the cheese, stirring until the sauce is creamy.
I used to be all about mac & cheese - and I mean of the Kraft variety. Something has changed in the last 5 years or so, I just can’t get into it. And I’ve never gotten in to restaurant mac & cheese or Stouffer’s. You know, the stuff that’s completely different than Kraft. Bigger noodles with creamier sauce.
The only mac & cheese I crave is this one, a casserole-style one with hint of Tobasco & mustard, and a panko crust. I’ve been making it as my potluck special for like a decade now.
It’s so freaking delicious. It’s great hot. Even better lukewarm the next day. You can serve it with a spoon, and then cut it with a knife.
Damn, I haven’t had cause to make it this year. Maybe I should just whip myself up a batch!
I generally make mine using a mix of cheese, usually some sharp cheddar (white Vermont cheddar, for preference) and another white, better-melting cheese (smoked Gouda, or even just some mozzarella). I’ll start by making a roux, then add some milk to thin it out and begin melting the (shredded) cheese in, maybe add a spoon of mustard powder, then some pepper and a bit of nutmeg. I like shells more than elbow macaroni for this.
(Sorry, I generally don’t use any kind of recipe, every time I step into a kitchen it’s a new experiment!)
And yes the cursed velvetta is the best for this. You can sharpen it up with some grated cheddar.
And don’t forget the dry mustard. Important in this.
I’ve been thinking about Kraft-type mac and cheese for awhile now. The kids love it, of course. It’s an easy fast lunch. I love to get a bite or two, when just made. It doesn’t reheat very well. Doesn’t matter. It’s usually all gone, quickly.
ETA…Knorr has a broccoli Mac n cheese in a fat envelope($2). Takes 7-10 minutes and is very tasty.
Mine is a comfort food from long ago: 1993 President’s Choice white cheddar, the same size & shape box as the Kraft Dinner but with distinguished black graphics and a hefty 50% price premium (I think it was a dollar back then), packet powder cheese sauce, made with margarine and a load of black pepper.
I’ve heard it’s might still be available in Canada, Pres Choice is and was a Canadian brand.
But, I like the recipe except I add more spices: white pepper, smoked paprika, rosemary … anything that strikes my fancy. Or, while I generally don’t like spice mixes, Penzey’s Forward is pretty damn good and a heavy dose of that produces a delicious dish.
Add-ins aren’t required but bacon, ham, pesto, and/or tomatoes are tasty.
The Velveeta is there for chemistry reasons, I gather. It makes for a smooth emulsion that is hard to achieve without sodium citrate.
For me, mac and cheese is a way to use up leftover meat. It’s a great medium for ground beef, chunks of sausage, or ham. It’s also great with veggies like a can of rotel tomatoes or jazzed up with spice blends. Or sometimes all or combinations of the above.
I always make a casserole-type, often with some chopped ham or sausage spread through it. But the distinguishing characteristic of all my mac and cheese is that I use spaghetti for the pasta. I like the density of spaghetti. It’s really just a filler to hold everything else together anyway.
The kids like to have little smokies thrown in the Kraft blue box. (Count them, everyone gets the same amout of the little weiners).
They call them “the Dogs bath”.
I love basic Kraft mac & cheese… while acknowledging that like many prepared foods the formulation is probably not the same as it was. Interestingly, I’ve noticed it most in the thickness/consistency of the noodles more than a change in the cheese/flavor packet. Similarly to @ZipperJJ , there’s a creamier version of pre-made mac & cheese from Stouffer’s and/or some restaurants that I don’t like as much. I think the Kraft flavor has a sharpness/bite to it that isn’t there in other cheese products.
I’ll make it as-is, though with less liquid than the box calls for. Really, a Tbsp or less of butter is all the liquid you need. Add small amounts of water if there are bits of powder that won’t dissolve.
I’ll add in on occasion some or all of the following:
a small amount of grated cheddar, or torn up bits of deli-sliced cheese
curry powder (sweet, not spicy)
a can of tuna
chopped chard or kale or broccoli (or any other robust green I have in the fridge)
… but plain is also great! Just not quite a complete meal.
My mom used to make a home made mac and cheese on occasion that I think was quite good. However my sister and I were… not appreciative of it as children. We both would have preferred Kraft.
I’ve never bothered to “casserole “ mac and cheese. I never serve it to others, so one pot on the stovetop is fine.
It is usually free-form. Start with Velveeta Shells & Cheeze and “What do I have in the fridge?” Chopped hot dogs, Lil Smokies, hamburger, pulled pork, broccoli, cauliflower, Ortega chilis, real cheese, hot sauce, etc. Sometimes I go straight to a version of Chili Mac and add a jar of Homade chili sauce to the mix. A batch will generally feed me for a few days while only dirtying up one pot and a Gladware container.
I’m in the baked mac and cheese faction, though I will admit to still liking the slightly better premade and frozen options like Stouffers or the Trader Joe’s version, though the salt on the first is enough to horrify anyone watching it!
For at-home making, I start with this option:
Generally I like to use any pasta that allows a full coating of the sauce and cheese: larger elbows, shells, rotini - any of these can be used. I normally use three cheeses, some good mozz for stretchy-melty goodness, some smoked gouda (because I love the smoke) and a nice cheddar, generally some Kirkland Coastal Cheddar to round things out.
Things I like to add above and beyond the recipe above include cayenne and/or red pepper flakes, roasted green chiles (Anaheim or Hatch generally), and green onions. All of these add both more color and flavor. Historically, I’d also have added crumbled bacon, but my wife is vegetarian, and so normally I leave it out these days.
Since I don’t make my own mac & cheese, this is the only question I can answer. The mac & cheese I consume is freshly made at one of the better supermarkets and all I can say about it is that it’s very rich and creamy with lots of cheese and the pasta has a nice firm texture.
I’m not a believer in having stuff directly mixed in with mac & cheese. I’ve had lobster mac & cheese and it’s OK but the lobster is mixed in and I don’t consider it a good taste complement anyway. One fancy store sells a “grown-up mac & cheese” with truffle, and that one I genuinely dislike.
In my view the thing that really complements mac & cheese and upgrades it to a proper meal is any good sausage. It can be bratwurst on the grill, fried breakfast sausage, slices of kielbassa baked or nuked along with the m&c – almost any sausage, as long as it’s kinda a separate side and not mixed in with it. I recently saw some prepared m&c with pulled pork. Probably tasty, but nope, too much like the lobster type – wrong texture and blending of flavours.
All that said, a small mac & cheese all by itself makes a nice comfort food for a late-night snack or a light lunch.
Yes! I do this too. I started doing it out of necessity when I was a poor college student (I had no milk and just a bit of butter) and it turns out it’s way better, to me.
I had not been enjoying it lately and tried it using the regular instructions (1/4 c each butter and milk) and I was like woaaaah this is worse.
I also don’t tend to add salt or pepper to my food but Kraft Dinner always gets a heaping helping of both.
@ParallelLines looks like you and I have the same taste in homemade mac & cheese. At least the base recipe. I don’t add the other stuff.
Some people live for the creamy - the creamier the better. I think I’m all about the dry baked stuff!