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Macaroni & Cheese
Sep. 8th, 2008 09:43 amThis is the recipe I was taught by my cousin and my mother and grandmother. I've since discovered that many, if not all, other recipes create a cheese sauce to pour over the noodles before baking.
For 4 to 6 (8 if you're for lunch or a bunch of kids)
1 lb of elbows or shells, slightly undercooked. (If it says 10 minutes, cook it 8.)
1 and 1/2 cups of grated cheese (don't use orange cheese. You can get a sharp white cheddar or a strong Monterey Jack. A mix of the two is also all right.)
1 two ounce (approximate) chunk of cheese
butter to grease the pan and dot the top
Milk -- I can't even approximate this. It should be enough to half fill the dish you're using to bake the casserole.
Preheat the oven to 400F. Butter the pan you're using. It should be fairly deep, and narrow is better than too shallow. Put down a layer of noodles, add a layer of cheese. Keep doing this until the halfway point. Add the two ounce chunk, and continue layering ending with a layer of cheese.
Add milk to approximately 3/4 of the way up the side of the pan.
Bake for an hour. If you cover it, the texture will be softer. In that case, I also recommend a little less milk and uncovering it for at least the last ten minutes to get the top brown.
Variations:
My cousin uses a teaspoon of sugar sprinkled on top to brown. My grandmother used bread crumbs in the top layer. I hate bread crumbs, and I think we should get away from adding sugar to things that don't need it. I just grind a little black pepper on top. My mom used a mix of cayenne and paprika. When she remembered the paprika, it was pretty good.
1 teaspoon of mustard mixed in with the grated cheese helps keep it separated for strewing and also gives a nice flavor.
You can mix a cup of cottage cheese with the noodles and cut the grated cheese in half. This variation will also take less milk.
edited to add: In my post about slow foods,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
undauntra mentioned having a macaroni and cheese made with smoked gouda. I think it sounds delicious, but I would mix the smoked cheese with another cheese, preferably a sharp cheddar, in proportions of 1/4/ to 1/3 smoked and the balance unsmoked. It might also be good as half the grated cheese in the cottage cheese variation.
For 4 to 6 (8 if you're for lunch or a bunch of kids)
1 lb of elbows or shells, slightly undercooked. (If it says 10 minutes, cook it 8.)
1 and 1/2 cups of grated cheese (don't use orange cheese. You can get a sharp white cheddar or a strong Monterey Jack. A mix of the two is also all right.)
1 two ounce (approximate) chunk of cheese
butter to grease the pan and dot the top
Milk -- I can't even approximate this. It should be enough to half fill the dish you're using to bake the casserole.
Preheat the oven to 400F. Butter the pan you're using. It should be fairly deep, and narrow is better than too shallow. Put down a layer of noodles, add a layer of cheese. Keep doing this until the halfway point. Add the two ounce chunk, and continue layering ending with a layer of cheese.
Add milk to approximately 3/4 of the way up the side of the pan.
Bake for an hour. If you cover it, the texture will be softer. In that case, I also recommend a little less milk and uncovering it for at least the last ten minutes to get the top brown.
Variations:
My cousin uses a teaspoon of sugar sprinkled on top to brown. My grandmother used bread crumbs in the top layer. I hate bread crumbs, and I think we should get away from adding sugar to things that don't need it. I just grind a little black pepper on top. My mom used a mix of cayenne and paprika. When she remembered the paprika, it was pretty good.
1 teaspoon of mustard mixed in with the grated cheese helps keep it separated for strewing and also gives a nice flavor.
You can mix a cup of cottage cheese with the noodles and cut the grated cheese in half. This variation will also take less milk.
edited to add: In my post about slow foods,
undauntra mentioned having a macaroni and cheese made with smoked gouda. I think it sounds delicious, but I would mix the smoked cheese with another cheese, preferably a sharp cheddar, in proportions of 1/4/ to 1/3 smoked and the balance unsmoked. It might also be good as half the grated cheese in the cottage cheese variation.
