I'm Talking Homemade Mac'N'Cheese - Doesn't Count If It's From a Box (i.e. Kraft)

My favorite is actually a really simple family recipe for any occasion, but I have a more gourmet version I like to pull out for gatherings.

Simple Baked M&C:
16oz elbow macaroni (penne, rigatoni, corkscrew all work well too)
8oz block of medium cheddar
8oz block of sharp cheddar
1 teaspoon ground mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 egg, beaten
Lotta damned butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Milk to cover, description below.

Cook the pasta to aldente in salted water, drain and put in a 9x13 pyrex dish. Cube up the butter sticks, minimum of one whole stick, two sticks is good, and stir it into the pasta. Stir in about 2/3 of the grated cheeses. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Beat the egg, mustard powder, and cayenne in a bowl and distribute into the dish, stirring quickly so the egg doesn't scramble in the hot pasta. Chase the egg with whole milk and pour it in as quickly after adding the egg as possible, again to help keep it from scrambling the egg. Milk should just reach the top of the pasta with bits of the pasta peeking through. Cover the top with remaining cheese and bake uncovered at 375F till the center is bubbling and most of the milk is cooked in.

Smoked Mac n' Cheese:
12oz elbow macaroni
1 cup shredded xtra sharp white cheddar
1 cup shredded gouda
2 cup shredded monterrey jack
1 stick of butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons Worcestershire
1 clove finely minced/crushed garlic
1/4C dry white wine
1/2C half & half
1C chicken stock
1 sliced jalapeno
Pecan wood for smoking.

Cook the pasta to aldente in salted water, drain and put in a greased 10" cast iron skillet. Mix all cheeses together and mix in about one cup to the pasta. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the garlic, only letting the garlic bubble for 30 seconds or so, then add the flour and stir to make a roux for a couple of minutes. Add the worcestershire, wine, chicken stock, and half/half stirring until creamy. (Hint, if you add cold liquid to hot roux, you don't get lumps!) Stir in 2 cups of the cheese until melted in, add salt/pepper to taste, and pour over the pasta. Top with remaining cheese and jalapeno slices. Smoker should be set around 300-325F, using the pecan wood as the smoke source. Put the skillet on a ridged pan to catch spills, and allow to cook for one hour and check it. If it looks like the best M&C you've ever seen, it's done. If not, let it go a little longer till the whole top is browned and bubbling. I've never had any leftovers from this recipe.

When I can, I'm going to give you this good recipe that isn't too cheesy and has bacon

Okay, please do so. Although, I don't believe it's possible for something to be too cheesy lol.

Cardboard

Wait, what? You put cardboard into your macaroni and cheese????? What does it taste like?

Crunchy

Here's my favorite recipe:

3 cups sharp cheddar
3 cups applewood smoked gruyere
1/4-1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1.5 cups milk
5 Tbsp flour
6 Tbsp butter
2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
1 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste (or omit)
2 Tbsp chopped parsley (for garnish)
16 oz of elbow macaroni

In large kettle/pot, cook elbow macaroni, drain, rinse with cold water and put into large (16" X 12") Pyrex cooking dish or a dutch oven and put to the side, uncovered. Make a roux with the flour and butter, then gradually stir in milk, so as not to let the temperature of the mixture get too cold. After all the milk is in, add in the three cheeses, paprika, and nutmeg, cook until everything is fully melted and mixed together to form a creamy cheese sauce. Pour cheese sauce over the already-cooked elbow macaroni, then cover with aluminum foil and bake in 300 degree F oven for 1 hour. Top with bread crumbs before baking if you like, but I would recommend using only homemade bread crumbs. Broil for 30-60 seconds at the very end if you want to brown your bread crumbs, or even get a little browning of the cheese on top (if you omitted the bread crumbs).

This is a very rich, decadent macaroni and cheese recipe. It is also very basic. I like to do lobster, crab, chicken, etc versions, but the no-protein version is a classic and is my favorite. Adding things like blue cheese or gorgonzola cheese will ramp up the umami flavor, if that's your thing, but the gruyere and parmesan give me enough umami/barnyard flavor for my liking.

Would love to hear others' recipes, and secret ingredients are always welcome!

Oops...meant to say "shredded" before each cheese...not shredded, as in pre-shredded cheese...you MUST shred your own cheese. Pre-shredded cheese has something on it that prevents the strands from sticking together. It makes it more difficult to get the cheese to melt.

Also, I meant gouda...not gruyere, although both are excellent.

They toss the pre-shred stuff in cellulose and corn starch...yeah it makes melting a pain...

Yes, that's the ticket! I didn't feel like looking it up, and it's something I should remember, so I copped out and just said "something"...lol.

You knew I would have to chime in on this comment section, lol. That recipe sounds really good, I like that you add smoked gruyere and paprika, the smoky flavor goes really well with M&C (as you'll see in one of my recipes below).

My wife has been begging me to find her a dairy-free mac and cheese recipe. She's been dairy free for a few months now and does ok with goat cheese, so I've found one recipe that is ok, but do you have any thoughts on that? I basically have to use olive oil anywhere that butter is used, and almond milk tends to do decently as a milk substitute. It tends to be fairly neutral flavored unlike coconut milk. I haven't found a good baked version yet, seems the stovetop kind is the way to go since the roux based stuff tends to be creamy without as much cheese. The crumbly goat cheese actually does better than the spreadable kind. Vegan cheese is...well...just no. Some things cannot be substituted. I'm open to any suggestions.

meant to say gouda, not gruyere, but I have done it with gruyere in place of the gouda several times and both are excellent. Yes, I knew you would comment on this one. And yes, smoky goes hand in hand with M&C. I like that "M&C" abbreviation. I think I will use it going forward. I also forgot to specify that you always cook the pasta al dente or even molto al dente, if you have to or just want to finish it in the oven. I am interested in trying M&C with some chicken stock added to the recipe. I have seen that in recipes before, but never thought that it would add anything I was looking for. I use cayenne sometimes, too. If I don't I always use a little hot sauce with the M&C.

That part you said about adding cold liquid to a hot roux...are you sure that holds true if you add a large volume of cold liquid relative to the volume of roux?

I am lactose intolerant, too. I used to drink half a gallon of milk a day, on average. Every night at about 2am, I'd wake up and stumble to the fridge and pound a pint glass or two of ice cold milk and then go back to bed. I think that upbringing caused my lactose intolerance. Anyhow, it was only about 5 or 6 years ago that I realized I'm lactose intolerant. Since then, I've drank nearly no milk, and I sorely miss it. I've also had to cut down on pizza bigtime, which is another problem for me. You see, I live in WI and we truly do like our dairy here. Anyhow, I've had dishes that substituted almond milk for milk. None of them tasted right. Vegan cheese...isn't that just cashew cheese or something like that? Well, cashews that did not require any form of non-human slavery to get the cashews, lol.
Yeah, that's not cheese. I have very little experience cooking with goat cheese, but it seems like the closest alternative. However, it has nearly as much lactose as cow cheese. I hear people with lactose intolerance tolerate it better than cow milk/cheese, though. I really don't have any suggestions other than...well...if you want to eat it badly enough, you will sacrifice feeling lousy later just so you can enjoy one of your favorite dishes. I hate saying that, but that's how I live my life these days. I still eat pizza, but not nearly as frequently. Same with M&C and anything dairy-related.

Oh, I do have one piece of advice for mitigating lactose intolerance...eat a big salad before you have a bunch of pizza or M&C, or both. Diluting the lactose allows your body to process less of it at once.

The chicken stock does well with my smoked recipe, but it's also why I use half and half instead of milk because you need that extra milk fat due to the stock sort of diluting things a bit. It does add a nice flavor though, I like it. Probably wouldn't (and don't) use it in all recipes but it works with that one.

Yes, cold liquid added to hot roux works like a charm, regardless of the amount of liquid. Just add it in a little slower to allow the roux to dissolve in. You can use that trick to make sauces/gravies as thick or thin as you want, and no lumps.

She isn't lactose intolerant we don't think, it's more of a hormonal thing, and dairy products sourced from cows have tons of hormones in them, especially milk. I think that's why the goat's milk products don't have as much affect on her since they tend to be more natural with less hormones. Nice suggestion about the salad though, I'll recommend she try that sometime and see if it does any better! Thanks for that.

Ah, not lactose intolerance, gotcha. Not sure if dilution will work then, but it might.

And when your body is processing less of the lactose at once, it has a better chance of processing it and not just sending it through as a complex sugar. People who are lactose intolerant are still producing the lactase enzyme, which breaks down lactose into a simple sugar, which the body can then use, but they are producing it at a slower rate than necessary to handle large amounts of lactose without feeling sick/tired. This dilution method works really well for me. And it's a good thing it does, because I eat what I want!

Freaking Cartman, lol...

Yeah, one of the funniest TV characters ever! The first 6 or 7 seasons were pure gold. It's something I own a hard copy of for each season because if things ever devolve to the point where things like TV and on-demand/streaming content is no more, I want to be able to watch my favorite shows and movies. I'll be a 70-year old man showing 12-year olds South Park! Gotta keep that make-fun-of-anything culture alive. Laughter is medicine and there is a determined group in this country trying to ban all sorts of forms of it.

That's why I keep copies of all the old Little Rascals shows and the Three Stooges, etc...I believe in real, unadulterated history in its purest form. Don't sugar coat that stuff. Take it in for what it is and learn from it, or better yet, laugh at it.

That's a before my time. I'm in my late 30's, but I only saw bits and pieces of both of those shoes. Same with Mr. Ed. However, I have recently watched some very old TV shows that I like a lot. Ever hear of The Prisoner? If not, you ought to watch the entire 17-episode series. It is so good. So odd and so good. It is from the late '60s and it is a great spy show, but the spying is being done on former spies! Well, mainly just one former spy. I also got way into The Outer Limits. Watched the entire "new" version of it...from like 1995 to 2001...and now am watching the original version from the late '60s. The '60s version is far inferior, to the "new" version, but both are great, if you love sci-fi.

I'm actually younger than you, lol. My parents did a good parenting thing and made me watch stuff like that growing up so as to make me cultured in the good old stuff. I used to love watching the Outer Limits, great show. Never heard of the Prisoner, I'll have to check it out.

Wow, that really did make me feel old. The Outer Limits had crappy special effects and pretty bad acting, but tons of stars graced its existence. The bad quality it had at times was fine, and sort of even attracts me to it.

The Prisoner is gold. It has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, not that it is the be-all-end-all for rating TV shows. Patrick McGoohan is the star, and man is he quirky. He's got one of those really old-style nasally voices. It works really well for the show.

Lol, I'm younger but not by much, I'm 35.

Right on, that's not too bad. Same age as my little brother. BTW...did you know someone is bashing soup on imgflip????

imgflip.com/i/4adaqm

No, I didn't see that till you sent it! I left them a soup nazi, lol ;)

Boil your pasta, and in a separate sauce pan melt some butter. Enough to mix with the pasta. Then when needed, add some heavy cream. Add like a LOT of sour cream. More than you think. You can add cream cheese too. Add some American cheese as well as a lot of cheddar. Add pepper, smoked paprika, Trader Joe’s onion salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Mix well and out your pasta in a crock pot. Pour in the sauce and mix again. Keep in crock pot until you want to serve it!