Why is mac & cheese so hard to get right?

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arbilab

arbilab

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Joined
May 1, 2011
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Mac & cheese, the all-American comfort food side dish. Why is most of it so lousy?

Mom made from scratch, Velveeta I think, was good but I don't know what she did (she's long dead). Ate in restaurants/buffets, major disappointing. Had other people's scratch; nope, not right either. Nor is any frozen brand. And you're listening to a guy who liked airline food back when there was such thing.

Grew accustomed to the Kraft blue box. It's the ONLY thing I'll buy from Kraft, some of their other stuff (like snack dips) are ABOMINABLE. I mean, not even resembling food.

Big buyer of store brands, almost always as good/better than nationals. Not M&C. It's edible alright, but M&C is supposed to make you wolf it and store brands don't.

Back to Kraft. Back to wolfing. Howzcome other store brands, frozens, even restaurants, can't do as well or better than the blue box?
 
Macaroni and cheese is a tough one to really nail. I've tried a dozen recipes and none of them have been completely satisfying--good, but not hitting the gold standard. I don't make it often enough to remake/remodel recipes to the Damn Good stage. (Recipes are combined/tweaked to a point of complete satisfaction, then awarded the Damn Good designation in my recipe collection. Hence, "Damn Good Deli Macaroni Salad," "Damn Good Roast Beef," etc.)

The baked version provides full-flavored macaroni, but is often kind of dry as the pasta soaks up the cheese sauce. Tried, once, to stir in more sauce near the end of baking time and wound up with a mound of saucy macaroni mush.

Stovetop versions are saucier, but can lack fully-developed flavor. The macaroni and sauce don't meld well. Boxed versions like Kraft offer a comforting familiarity, but I'm not a fan of the macaroni they use: Not quite elbows; thinner than standard pasta; lacking wheat flavor. And their sodium content is usually through the roof. If it's the entree, most of us will eat more than what's listed as a single serving.

Velveeta (which sounds better than 'pasteurized process cheese product') provides a creamy texture, but brings its fake cheese taste with it. Using shredded block cheddar produces sauce that separates and becomes stringy. Some recipes use a combination of the two, ostensibly to provide the best characteristics of both.

I keep a box or two of Kraft in the pantry, as well as a jar of Ragu Double Cheddar. The Ragu gets mixed reviews; some like it, others bemoan the latex paint-like viscosity. Sometimes I crave the baked version, which is a different mac 'n' cheese experience altogether.

The search for a perfect recipe continues...

frigilux-2014091105271900975_1.jpg
 
Here is my GOTO Mac and Cheese Recipe

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">This was given to me years ago by my friend Randy.  I have made this many, many times.  It certainly is not the healthiest recipe but it will gurantee to please.  Everyone wants the recipe for this one.</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Macaroni and Cheese</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Ingredients</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">1 lb. Elbow Macaroni</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">2 Eggs</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">1/2 Small Chopped Onion</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">2 cups or 16 ounces bag of shredded cheddar cheese</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">2 cups or 16 ounce bag of shredded Colby cheese</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">24 slices of Kraft American Cheese (not cheese food)</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">1 stick margarine</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">2 cans evaporated milk</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">1 Tbls of vanilla flavoring</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">2 Tbls sugar</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Salt and Pepper to Taste</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Directions</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Boil Macaroni according to package directions.  Drain.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Add margarine, salt, pepper, sugar, onions, vanilla flavor, milk and eggs. Mix well.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Pour 1/3 of mixture into buttered baking pan. Cover with shredded cheeses and then layer with American cheese (You should get at least six slices of cheese across the top of this layer.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Repeat for two more layers ending with cheese on top.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Bake in 350 oven for 20 - 30 minutes until sides bubble and top starts to brown.</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Remove and enjoy.</span>
 
The Stumbling Blocks:

As a seeker after The Perfect Mac myself, I feel your pain. I have the same trouble you do nailing exactly what I want.

However, I can tell you two common pitfalls to avoid; many recipes fall into these two traps.

The first is: False economy. There won't be much cheese, and there will be a lot of white sauce (that flour-butter-milk part of the recipe). What cheese there is is often Velveeta. Fairly easy to detect.

The second is: Too fancied-up. The recipe will have bleu cheese in it, or Asiago, or some damn thing. It may have white wine, shallots, creme fraiche or panko crumbs for a topping. Mac 'n cheese is a simple dish, and too many food writers forget that in their attempt to be "original."

I don't know if this helps, but I do wish you well.
 
People grow up favoring certain foods, e.g. Kraft blue box mac & cheese, and nothing else tastes "as good" because it's not what we're used to. In this case, nothing else tastes quite like processed, highly concentrated and salted dry cheese powder. It's usually the "bite" that's missing in homemade recipes.

This isn't limited to mac & cheese, e.g. in taste tests people say nothing is "as good" as Best Foods/Hellman's mayonnaise, when the only difference between it and homemade is the preservative (calcium disodium EDTA, which is made from formaldehyde and sodium cyanide) in the commercial product. It's "better" only because it's the specific taste many or most of us grew up with.
 
So true, Jeff!

I've done the baked version but, like Eugene, find the pasta sponges the sauce. I have had a little better luck with thinning the sauce and not cooking it as long, but still have to work timing to get a light browned crust, with or without crumbs, and a creamy filling. So far, cooking covered until lightly bubbling then removing the cover and raising the temp to brown has been somewhat successful.

If you want a little more bite, try using some extra sharp cheddar or even a bit of Swiss. Mine comes out a little different every time because I like to buy the deli-packed ends at Market Basket and use some of what's in there. I try to pick the packs that are mostly cheddar and the like with less Swiss, provolone, etc.

Chuck
 
Count me among those who like "classic" mac 'n' cheese. If a baked recipe calls for onion, I usually pop it in the baby Cuisinart and make a slurry of it. Were it a more frequent item on the menu, I'd probably be more tempted to add bacon or other vegetables.

Chach- Yours is the first recipe I've seen with vanilla extract and sugar. Bit of a kugel/mac 'n' cheese hybrid. Now I'm curious!

A heads-up: 2 cups of shredded cheese equals an 8-oz. bag. A 16-oz. bag would be 4 cups of cheese...not that too much cheese is ever a bad thing, LOL.
 
I thought the same thing about the vanilla and Sugar..

..but it is not a sweet Mac'n Cheese.  I am not a big raw onion fan and I have made it without the onion as well so that's a personal preference.

 

But, I can guarantee it's nice and cheesy and ticks most of the boxes people want in a good Mac'n Cheese.  This one is not a dry version as you can imagine with these ingredients.

 

I work with a lady in Chicago and I see her once or twice a year at meetings and she always brings up this recipe.  She says her family asks for this every time she is going to attend a family food event.

 

You may need to take out a second mortgage on the house to buy all that cheese and run hundreds of miles afterwards but it's worth it.  LOL
 
I thought the same thing about the vanilla and Sugar..

..but it is not a sweet Mac'n Cheese.  I am not a big raw onion fan and I have made it without the onion as well so that's a personal preference.

 

But, I can guarantee it's nice and cheesy and ticks most of the boxes people want in a good Mac'n Cheese.  This one is not a dry version as you can imagine with these ingredients.

 

I work with a lady in Chicago and I see her once or twice a year at meetings and she always brings up this recipe.  She says her family asks for this every time she is going to attend a family food event.

 

You may need to take out a second mortgage on the house to buy all that cheese and run hundreds of miles afterwards but it's worth it.  LOL
 
"I'd probably be more tempted to add bacon"

If you like the basic taste of boxed it can be doctored up pretty easily. The main issue is salt, it's already high and the most common additions (bacon, ham etc) add more on top of it. Best as a side dish imo.

Another trick is to make your favorite homemade recipe, except reduce the cheese a bit and stir in a bit of dry cheese powder from a box at the very end. Salt content is still not great but it's more controllable this way.
 
I have made this a number of times..

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I have made it with Bacon, Broccolli and one time even with Sausage when hubby thought it would be good.  I liked it with the added Broccolli.  Not so much with the Bacon or the Sausage and maybe it was because it was too salty for me.  I don't remember, I really didn't think about it until now.  I use very little salt in my cooking so I am a little senstive to it.</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The Sausage version was a little greasier than I like.  I guess I didn't drain it enough.  Jeff makes a good point about the salt content though and that should be watched.</span>
 
The blue box is nasty stuff although my oldest sister loved it. There was a food court stall in the last office tower I worked at back in Calgary that made the most delicioius mac'n cheese. I could have lived on it. Was reading that according to Kraft, Canadians are the biggest eaters of the blue box. what an honor. LOL
 
 

 

Hey Cory, 

 

I signed up and clicked on your 2nd link... it looks like the exact same recipe as the first link, just on their website.  "Classic Macaroni and Cheese".

 

Is that 2nd recipe supposed to be different at all from the first one?

 

Thanks!

Kevin
 
Donald would much rather..

Have the boxed stuff, and canned biscuits, simply because thats what he grew up on, I want home made, simply because I HAD to eat old boxed stuff and canned biscuits!!!!Give me home made!!!!
 
People are talking ...

here at work... about Trader Joe's boxed mac and cheese.

Apparently all natural ingredients. They swear they'll never go back to Kraft.

Maybe worth a try.
 
And Hawaiians eat the lion's share of Spam.

Might could be just the extra salt. Campbell's built an entire industry on salt alone. But no, Kraft manages to hit the sauce texture target between soup and pudding without even 'measuring' the butter and milk. Although ALL box instructions would have you boil the 'roni to the consistency of toothpaste. Who do they think they're dealing with? Grandpa's name was Anthony.

The only thing I 'salt' is fried egg. Lightly. Everything else, the salt is in the condiments or marinade along with more entertaining flavors.

Speaking of fried egg, I knock the stuffin outta egg mcmuffin. Can even beat Whataburger. Not that beating fastfood from scratch is that big a whoop for a skilled chef, but I ain't one of those. My feet hurt if I stand in the kitchen more than 20 minutes so stuff has to be made to fall into place quickly and without buying a ton of stuff that will go bad before I use it all. THAT, I'm just obsess-compuls-personality-type to do.

Friday, it finally cooled off enough to open the windows and broil. I can electric broil tenderloin filet with outdoor grill flavor AND without spattering the oven walls to east geezus.
 

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