The Craft of Cheese and Macaroni

It's the cheesiest!

It is rare in life that one gets it right on the first attempt. For instance, macaroni and cheese has been a dish that I have tried to master for years. In the past, I have played around with the dairy products in my recipe – milk, cream, sour cream. I have poured béchamel over pasta and then added cheese. I have made mock alfredo sauces that employed the use of cheddar but eliminated the need for flour. I have replaced the flour with corn starch; let ingredients sit out on the counter until they were all room-temperature; mixed my macaroni with egg à la pasta carbonara before adding the cheese sauce. I have played around with the doneness of the pasta and changed up the shape. (Orzo was particularly disappointing.) I have dedicated a great amount of time, thought and effort to the perfection of this dish.

Historically, I have conceded to the process yielding the macaroni and cheese that has blessed the tables of my family for generations. In recent years, my sister has dubbed this kind of macaroni and cheese “The Brick.” The Brick is baked macaroni and cheese made with a flour and milk béchamel sauce and lots of cheese. Sounds standard, right? Eggs are the ingredients that render this moniker befitting. Their addition is intended to work as a binder that will facilitate the unctuous creaminess that one desires in macaroni and cheese. The reality, however, is that the eggs coagulate during the baking process and constrict. As a result, the dish separates. The fat pools on the top (we all know the orange colored grease) and the pasta and cheese mixture is dense. Do not get me wrong, I eat the brick. I have even prepared the brick. It possesses an intense cheese flavor that is difficult to achieve but its problem is that it sacrifices texture and consistency.

As a child, I disliked macaroni and cheese. Actually, let me modify that statement: As a child, I disliked The Brick. It just so happens that I LOVED the blue box macaroni and cheese. I believe texture is much more important to a young palette than is flavor. And although that fluorescent orange, salty convenience food did not taste much like cheese, it had a smooth, milky texture. Now that I am an adult, I want to be gobsmacked by the essence of cheese. When cheese is in the name of the dish, cheese must be at the forefront. It cannot be a supporting player.

There must be supporting players, though. Too often, macaroni and cheese recipes promise bold, rich flavor but fail to deliver. Their blandness is unsatisfying. These recipes are flat and do not accentuate the complex nuances of the cheese and pasta. 

So, what I hoped to achieve from macaroni and cheese was chewy, toothsome pasta cloaked in a silky, cheesy sauce. I wanted it to convey the pungent, unadulterated quintessence of cheese. I was open to ingredients that would enhance the flavor but I was adamant that they made sense in this context. No chorizo or lobster in my mac ‘n’ cheese! Drawing from lessons learned from previous rendezvous with this dish, I experimented with the preparation of this comfort food classic and ended up creating the best macaroni and cheese ever. The recipe to my masterpiece is below.

Golden Brown and Delicious...

My Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese

**Note** Recipes, especially non-dessert-and-pastry recipes, are outlines for how to prepare a dish. Usually, if one follows the recipe to the letter, one should achieve optimal results. However, there is room for creativity. Remember, my recipes are based upon my personal tastes and preferences. If you find some of the ingredients are not to your liking, then, by all means, delete or substitute. But please know that your results may differ from mine. I encourage you to use full-fat dairy products, as I cannot vouch for the dish if you do not. Moreover, if you are prone to overcooking your pasta, I suggest using whole wheat pasta as I did. I find that it is more forgiving. Finally, I recommend using sharp, flavorful cheeses. Cheese tends to mellow when cooked and its intensity is subdued.

Ingredients:

            1 lb. ridged medium-sized pasta, such as jumbo macaroni or shells

            3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

            3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

            ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

            ⅛ tsp. ground mustard

Cheesy nooks and crannies!

            ⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper

            2 12-oz. cans evaporated milk

2 oz. cream cheese

8 oz. Colby-Jack cheese, grated

8 oz. extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

2 oz. Asiago cheese, grated

¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Whole milk, to taste

Salt, to taste

2 Tbsp. bread crumbs (optional)


Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Meanwhile, melt butter over medium-low heat in a large, heavy sauce pan. When the butter has melted, add flour and whisk to ensure that no lumps have formed. Cook flour and butter for about 3 minutes. Add nutmeg, mustard and cayenne. Cook for another minute. Continue to whisk while adding evaporated milk. Bring the sauce to a bubble, about 3 minutes. Add cream cheese and whisk until fully incorporated. Reduce temperature to low and whisk in cheeses. (Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cheese if you plan to bake the macaroni.) Add pepper and salt, if necessary. Keep warm over low heat, stirring occasionally.


Add salt and pasta to boiling water and cook until tender but firm, about 7 minutes. Drain pasta without shaking off excess liquid. Add to cheese sauce and stir to coat. If the sauce has thickened too much for your liking, add in some whole milk to loosen it. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve piping hot!


If you desire baked macaroni and cheese, pour sauced pasta into an oven-safe casserole dish. Mix 2 tablespoons bread crumbs with reserved cheese. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the pasta. Bake in a 350˚ F oven until the top is golden brown, about 10 minutes.

If you had this plate, you would not even think about meat much less miss it!