Great Kitchen Marriage: Mac And Cheese

by Kevin Burton

   Today is the national day for what apparently is a regional dish, macaroni and cheese.

    Macaroni and Cheese is comfort food for many of us. I have seen it as a much-needed point of agreement. So I hate to insert a note of controversy here. But….

   But upon just a cursory perusal of the mac and cheese universe, I have encountered suggestions that other, completely different foods be added to macaroni and cheese and that these foods would be cooked together.

   I don’t think so.

   No, I’m not talking about milk and butter, used to cook the macaroni and the cheese.  I’m talking about diced ham or chicken and even worse, much worse, onions.

     Under no circumstances will there be onions included in my mac and cheese. This unspeakable evil oozed recently from the pages of more than one of my wife Jeannette’s cookbooks.

    I always thought mac and cheese was just the mac, then the cheese.  Sort of like Hall and Oates, creators of such musical morsels as “Did It In A Minute,” “Rich Girl” and “Private Eyes.” There’s Hall and there’s Oates. That’s all.

   No doubt in your marriage vows, appeared the phrase “forsaking all others.” That’s my standard for the mouth-watering marriage of macaroni with its perfect partner cheese.

   The website nationaltoday.com says today is National Macaroni and Cheese Day. I’m down with that, but to paraphrase Sinatra, I’ll do it my way.  

   “If you’re in the Midwest, it’s a hotdish. If you live in the northeast, it’s a casserole. Down in the south, it’s a sometimes-spicy side dish that accompanies BBQ right along with potato salad,” national today wrote. “But wherever you’re from, there’s a version of mac and cheese that you grew up with, and will always taste like home.”

   “It’s perhaps the king of comfort foods, the dominant dish of America, and a favorite of all ages all over the country,” the website writes.  “Golden and gooey, baked and hearty, this sideline staple or main dish can be served up any number of ways.”

    If mac and cheese is the king of comfort foods, then the Minnesota-based Kraft company is the king of mac and cheese. (I just learned it’s now “Kraft-Heinz.”)

    If you doubt Kraft’s dominance, go to your local grocery store and look for the store brand mac and cheese.  I bet you that product will be sold in a box that is the same shape and same mostly blue color as Kraft.

   Jeannette – and her mother – got a lesson in Kraft mac and cheese years ago from her son.  When Charlie was seven or eight, the family visited his grandparents, Jeannette’s parents. Dinner consisted of steak and homemade mac and cheese. Knowing Charlie was a big mac and cheese fan, Jeannette’s mother asked, “So Charlie what did you think of the macaroni and cheese?” 

   Lacking that essential filter we all grow into, Charlie said, “It was good, but the blue box is better.”

   Here, here. I like the blue box too. Kraft must have something going for it. They’ve been dishing up mac and cheese since 1937, according to national today.

   Yet Kraft mac and cheese is often the first thing cited by kitchen snobs as “not real cooking.”

   Macaroni and cheese goes way back beyond the Kraft era, according to national today. “The creamy casserole can be traced back hundreds of years to Italy, where pasta and parmesan have been a staple meal for centuries.”

    Some have credited Thomas Jefferson with bringing mac and cheese to the US from Italy,” but this idea has been disputed,” the website writes. “There’s no way to know whether it’s all bologna.”

  The oldest mac and cheese recipe comes from the 1300s and the English cookbook “Forme of Cury,” according to the website. Another tidbit: in 1824 Crayola named a new crayon color “Macaroni and Cheese.”

   “In Hong Kong it’s common to eat macaroni and cheese for breakfast, doctored up with several ingredients including peas, ham mushrooms and eggs,” the website writes.

   No thanks to that. But for those of you who are dubious of me and my blue box predilections, I leave you with an authentic southern (no onions) mac and cheese recipe, Old-fashioned Macaroni and Cheese Casserole, from southernkitchen.com:

About the recipe

This macaroni and cheese casserole is of the sliceable type, made with eggs, milk and a generous amount of sharp cheddar cheese. The recipe was originally submitted to Southern Kitchen by reader Karen Everhart and was featured in Saving Southern Recipes.

If you’d like, you can cook the noodles and assemble the casserole (minus the milk mixture) ahead of time and refrigerate until needed.

Serves: 8 to 10

Hands On Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound wide egg noodles

1 1/2 pounds sharp cheddar cheese

4 cups whole milk

4 large eggs

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, plus more as desired

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles and boil until just al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well.

Meanwhile, grate one pound of the cheese on the large holes of a box grater. Thinly slice the remaining cheese. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and the eggs. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Spread half of the cooked noodles evenly across the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch baking dish. Top with half of the grated cheese and half of the butter, distributing both evenly across the noodles. Repeat with the remaining noodles, grated cheese and butter. Pour the milk mixture over the noodles; it should come close to the top of the noodles. Lay the sliced cheese evenly across the top of the noodles. 

Place the baking dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the filling is bubbling and the top layer of cheese is just starting to brown, about 45 minutes. Let rest for at least 15 minutes before serving