Macaroni cheese chat

[GreenTuraco]

Food of the gods.
Had it for the first time in ages, gorgeous cheesy heaven.
Just posting here for macaroni cheese chat.
In my opinion, can't beat it made the traditional way, - saute chopped onion in butter, make into a roux then into a white sauce, add some mustard, salt and pepper and a shed load of extra mature cheddar. Block out all thoughts regarding calories, fat content or carb content.
Key principles of luscious macaroni cheese -

• use proper elbow macaroni
• cook it al dente
• use less pasta than you think you need
• make a traditional cheese sauce as above. Add more cheese than is decent. Make more sauce than you think you will need and make it runnier than you think it should be
• combine all and add yet more cheese on top. And sliced tomatoes if you like. Bake. Eat and sink into a lovely cheese and carb coma. Bliss.

Completely agree BUT without the onions! And you can never have enough cheese!

Love, love, love macaroni cheese. Which I cannot (despite being married to an American) contemplate calling ‘Mac and cheese’). Here are some thoughts:

Lots of mustard and a piquant vintage cheddar for the sauce.

Try rigatoni or spirali. I prefer those to macaroni.

I think when you wrote ‘slice tomatoes’ you meant to write ‘fry up some lardons and chuck ‘em all in.’

Panko breadcrumbs mixed with Parmesan on top.

Never attempt to mix with lobster. It does neither party any good. Exposure to this nonsense is a downside of being married to an American.

Serve with a token green salad.

I never put an onion in. Should I?

Regarding onions, I let the milk simmer with an onion in before making the white sauce. Never put onions in the dish itself.

Yes, it's delicious with some onion in, if you saute the onion gently in butter first.

Never an onion! And I generally prefer a pinch of nutmeg to mustard but I'm relatively on the fence about it.

You missed the best part though which is eating the scraps of the cheese sauce from the saucepan while the macaroni cheese cooks in the oven.

All you onion hating weirdos! Shocking.
Not made it with lardons, but have made it with the addition of cooked bacon bits, that makes it extra tasty

Sage and parmesan in your panko - it’s amazing

Ooh yes, chef’s treat!

NO TOMATOES. You don’t need acidic gloop on it.

But do replace the onion with a leek.

OMG no to the nutmeg, blech, my pet hate in savoury food. But if it floats your boat then go for it.

I throw in what my mother would have called ‘rats ends’ of any cheeses that need eating up. Plus half a tub of full fat cream cheese.
I generally make a huge pan of sauce and freeze it in portions.

Even better than the scraps of cheese sauce from the pan, are the crispy bits of cheese left around the edges of the oven dish, once you have served the macaroni cheese. Essence of cheese-umami, divine.

My husband makes ours from scratch however, I lived in America in the 1990’s and I use to eat the cheap packet macaroni cheese. I bought some in Costco the other week and it is disgusting but I can’t help it I have to eat it. No one else will touch it 🤣

Have you seen the Nadiya one with wotsits and evaporated milk?

It's not that bad ...

The Nadiya one sounds terrible. 'Not that bad' is not much of a recommendation!

Yep cant beat proper British carb and cheese overload macaroni cheese.
I like bacon and onions (and a touchof dijon mustard in the sauce), but DH likes original best served with gammon.

Well it sounded awful so my expectations were low.

We cheat and use a premade cheese sauce because I cba making a roux. I add extra cheese, sometimes some blue cheese, and bake in the oven with the al dente macaroni mixed in, topped with bacon and slices of tomato. My dc love it.

Fry chorizo till really crispy and mix through before baking it with Pablo and parmesean on top.

And definitely less pasta than you think, runnier sauce, and more cheese than should be decent!

I have a weird child that doesn't like the crispy cheesy top on a baked macaroni and cheese. He's so strange.

I like mine with onions, other additions seems a bit blasphemous if I'm honest (although I have been known to put some blitzed spinach through the cheese sauce when weaning) and add some mustard powder and bit of smoked paprika. Not too much.

No onions here but we do like lardons, panko breadcrumbs on the top and lots of nutmeg. Have also found walnuts to be really good.

Needs to be the original cheesey variety with none of these bells and whistles like tomatoes etc.

Needs to be consumed with a lovely large red wine YUM.

I really want this now!

There’s a Nigella recipe, made with condensed milk, eggs and cheese blended (not cooked) then added to cooked macaroni. Fast to make and enhanced by a spoon of mustard, panko and Parmesan topping. A little extra milk makes the sauce a bit looser. Serrano ham sometimes mixed in. My teens swear by it and eat it by the bucket.

whats this thing with having gravy on it?

This is my favourite recipe, rather lovely. I sometimes add leftover chicken if I have some.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/glammaccandcheesee92848/amp