macaroni and cheese

[TripletDaddy]

Do we have any mac and cheese lovers here? I have always loved mac and cheese, the puffy check love it, and my wife loves it. We have piddled around with various recipes but I am going to start a dedicated search for a really good one that we like.

If you have a good recipe that you would suggest, please post. Also, pics would really be appreciated. I aim to try all sorts of recipes. I'm completely uninterested in instant or boxed stuff (yuck).

Tonight I am going with a simple and reliable source: Alton Brown. As with most mac and cheese recipes, this one is pretty easy.

Base: Sharp Cheddar
Interesting twist: onions

Ingredients

• 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

Directions

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.

Standard disclaimer: do we have one of these threads? I couldn't find one using "cheese" or "macaroni" as a keyword.

[Tim]

Do we have any mac and cheese lovers here? I have always loved mac and cheese, the puffy check love it, and my wife loves it. We have piddled around with various recipes but I am going to start a dedicated search for a really good one that we like.

If you have a good recipe that you would suggest, please post. Also, pics would really be appreciated. I aim to try all sorts of recipes. I'm completely uninterested in instant or boxed stuff (yuck).

Tonight I am going with a simple and reliable source: Alton Brown. As with most mac and cheese recipes, this one is pretty easy.

Base: Sharp Cheddar
Interesting twist: onions

Standard disclaimer: do we have one of these threads? I couldn't find one using "cheese" or "macaroni" as a keyword.

I'm a huge mac & cheese fan. If you're ever in North Carolina, you have to go to chef Ashley Christensen's new fried chicken place in downtown Raleigh, Beasley's Chicken + Honey. (http://www.ac-restaurants.com/) She makes the most incredible cheddar pimento mac & cheese custard that melts in your mouth.

You'd love Ashley Christensen. She's a big participant in the Southern Foodways Alliance and puts together some incredible menus.

Anyway, I love mac & cheese.

[Coastal Ute]

This guy has it down.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coYqrXsDPdU"]Macaroni and Cheese Recipe - Tom Jefferson's Mac and Cheese - YouTube[/nomedia]

The onions would be an interesting twist though. How did that turn out?

[San Juan Sun]

I'm not a huge Mac and cheese fan, but a restaurant Mrs SJS and I enjoy in NM serves a sort of gourmet Mac and cheese with green chile. It's amazing.

[TripletDaddy]

This guy has it down.

Macaroni and Cheese Recipe - Tom Jefferson's Mac and Cheese - YouTube

The onions would be an interesting twist though. How did that turn out?

The Alton Brown recipe was good. not amazing but it definitely was good. I really enjoyed the onions and the bread crumb topping.

Likes:
Not runny. I don't like runny mac and cheese.
Onions added a nice flavor
Bread crumbs added a nice flavor
Easy recipe.

Things to work on:
This is entirely based on sharp cheddar. The taste was good but I wanted something a bit stronger. I have noticed that many mac recipes call for two kinds of cheeses. Perhaps that is what this was missing.

Recommended?
Worth a try. It is a good mac. Not amazing, but will probably appeal to a wide varierty of mac eaters. I won't go back to this recipe until I try out some others. I am going for a two cheeser next time. But, I do think this recipe is a solid start. In fact, I like everything about it except I want a greater cheese flavor to it. I could see myself coming back to this with a tweak or two.

One distinction...apparently AB has multiple mac and cheese recipes online. This was the Baked mac and cheese recipe (as opposed to the stove top mac and cheese recipe, which has many different ingredients).

[MarkGrace]

I love mac and cheese, but like most foods discussed here, I'm too lazy to cook and would just rather recommend a place to get it. For the Seattle peeps, Poco Wine Room on Cap Hill has an awesome truffled mac and cheese. You can add prosciutto to it as well. Yum.

[YOhio]

I've done the Alton Brown recipe a few times and I like to sprinkle shredded Parm or Asiago over the top of the Panko.

[wuapinmon]

If money's no object, I can imagine that a nice manchego/sharp cheddar blend would make for an excellent macaroni and cheese.

I appreciate all of yall telling me you love me.

[creekster]

We went to a place in Harlem that had fantastic Mac and Cheese (and smothered chicken) called Amy Ruth's. Well worth it.

[Portland Ute]

If money's no object, I can imagine that a nice manchego/sharp cheddar blend would make for an excellent macaroni and cheese.

I appreciate all of yall telling me you love me.

Manchego isn't all that expensive if you can catch it at Costco.

[Jeff Lebowski]

We went to a place in Harlem that had fantastic Mac and Cheese (and smothered chicken) called Amy Ruth's. Well worth it.

Well worth what?

[Tim]

Well worth what?

It.

[cougjunkie]

The Alton Brown recipe was good. not amazing but it definitely was good. I really enjoyed the onions and the bread crumb topping.

Likes:
Not runny. I don't like runny mac and cheese.
Onions added a nice flavor
Bread crumbs added a nice flavor
Easy recipe.

Things to work on:
This is entirely based on sharp cheddar. The taste was good but I wanted something a bit stronger. I have noticed that many mac recipes call for two kinds of cheeses. Perhaps that is what this was missing.

Recommended?
Worth a try. It is a good mac. Not amazing, but will probably appeal to a wide varierty of mac eaters. I won't go back to this recipe until I try out some others. I am going for a two cheeser next time. But, I do think this recipe is a solid start. In fact, I like everything about it except I want a greater cheese flavor to it. I could see myself coming back to this with a tweak or two.

One distinction...apparently AB has multiple mac and cheese recipes online. This was the Baked mac and cheese recipe (as opposed to the stove top mac and cheese recipe, which has many different ingredients).

I have made that exact recipe from Alton and felt like it lacked a bit of flavor.

[happyone]

I'll probably be banned from posting in the diner for this recipe, but this is my favorite mac and cheese ( this is a variation of my mom's recipe). Robin might like it - I seem to remember him having an affection for velveeta

1 lb macaroni
6 oz velveta cheese ( yes I know - but it does say cheese on the box )
1/2 lb medium chedder
1 12 oz can of canned milk
regular milk
worchestershire sauce - a couple of shakes ( tsp maybe)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
salt
white pepper

boil the macaroni in salted water in a dutch oven until just prior to the al dente stage - about 6 minutes or so

while the macaroni is cooking dice the velveeta and shred the chedder

when the macaroni is done drain and return the macaroni to the pot. Reduce the heat to low and add the canned milk and enough regular milk to cover the macaroni. . Add the velveeta and as it melts stir in the chedder in small batchs. While stirring add a couple of shakes of worchestershire sauce, the dry mustard and salt and pepper to taste.

When the cheese is melted it is still quite soupy, but the sauce thickens rapidly as it cools.

Mom always said she used the velveeta for the creamyness and the chedder for the flavor.
I personally think it is much better the second day. If it gets too thick add some additional milk to loosen it.

[creekster]

It.

Pretty much.

Sheesh, tough crowd.

Well worth a trip to Harlem. We had walked down 7th Ave for about 8 blocks in bitterly cold weather to get there and then had to wait for about 20 minutes to get a table. I guess I wouldn't say the mac and cheese justified the effort all by itself, but this place is like a comfort food mecca with fried chicken, mac and cheese, smothered chicken and even two flavors of kool-aid among drink selections. ANd the Mac and Cheese was very rich and tasty. It is a bad place for a diet or for those watching fat or cholesterol, but on balance I think it is well worth a trip, or it.