To think that macaroni cheese is comforting and stodgy enough without making it with EVAPORATED MILK

[MorrisZapp]

Anybody else got their mitts on Nigella's christmas offering? I heartily recommend it - it's glossy, truly beautiful and full of inspiring photos etc... and the requisite comedy recipes that only the rich and job-free could possibly attempt.

Don't just roast your turkey girls! Soak it in brine first. In your biggest pan. You don't have a pan that size? Use a bucket. Guffaw.

I love Nigella and won't have a word said against her but her recipe for macaroni cheese takes the boudoir biscuit, it really does. First make your roux in the normal butter-heavy manner, then mix in... two tins of evaporated milk. Yes, you read that right. But it's ok - if you can't face tinned carnation, Nigella says just use cream. CREAM. In a cheese and pasta dish. Oh my lord!

I can't help thinking that if a greasy caff sold this kind of fare to people in tracksuits, then we'd feel moved by pity to send Jamie Oliver in to save them from immenent heart attack.

I love macaroni and I make the best (secret ingredient: English mustard. Unsecret topping: crushed crisps) but even with semi skimmed it's as rich and heavy as any human palate could bear.

I don't want to slap or punch Nigella or anything troubling like that, in fact if I met the lovely lady I'd give her a big hug and rest my head on her ample bosom.

But that recipe is just too, too much.

AIBU?

I just knew that somebody would put chocolate in their chilli! It's probably normal, what the heck do I know. Sounds like science fiction to me though

No-one's asked but here's my recipe

knob butter
hoosh flour
stir
mustard powder, bit
milk added gently out of carton till goes to right consistency
grated cheese of choice
nutmeg if that way inclined
pepper n salt

whoosh much pasta around in it

maybe I should do a book

Should have added "stirring all the while"

And Nacho soup is American too

Sounds about right marmite.

I also cut my cheese rather then grate it - by the time it's all melted in I've bashed all the lumps out of the sauce. I always use the most mature, strong cheddar I can find.

I then put the lot into a pyrex dish, sprinkle a packet of crunched up ready salted crisps on top (kids love crunching the crisps) and some grated cheese on top of that.

Then into the oven until cheese on top starts bubbling.

OH MY GOD why did I ever start this thread. (dashes off to Waitrose to source macaroni ingredients as matter of medical emergency)

I wondered why my kids (who have discovered the delights () of Mac 'n Cheese here in the US said mine didn't taste right. Obviously a lack of sugar.

Chocolate with chili spices is from South America, and can be very good. I haven't heard of nacho soup, but have had tortilla soup here (with strips of toasted tortilla, a bit like croutons), and of course that weird yellow sauce they think is cheese related.

btw mummyp, when you mix flour with melted fat you get a 'roux', this should look like wet sand. You cook it on a low heat for a bit before adding the liquid.

My dad flings all the liquid in at once then stirs for ages, but I add the liquid slowly and stir as I go.

Sorry, don't have quantities as I do it by sight, but I use pretty much a whole block of cheese and about a pint or so of milk.

Macaroni I always get the quantity a bit wrong (usually make too much) as it swells up so much in the water when you cook it.

If there's any left over you can heat it the next day in a pan and add some milk to make it go soft again, and add a wee bit of mustard and black pepper to give it a bit of bite. I use mustard from a jar but others use powder, tastes the same.

I've made the Nigella Express Macaroni Cheese. You don't make a roux, just chuck cheese, eggs and evaporated milk into blender, mix with cooked macaroni and put in oven. It doesn't taste ultra rich, evaporated milk is not sweet, thats condensed milk.

The christmas recipe might be different.

My mum leant me her copy odf nigella's christmas at the weekend.

IT IS RUBBISH

Her recipes are awful mish-mashes. There isn't a thing I would make from it. She has gone doolally, that woman. I am amazed anyone thinks she is any good at cookin

Macaroni cheese, should also have hard boiled eggs and lardons imo, def not evaporated milk. Chocolate is a must in chilli and diced anchovies is required in spag bol!

Also made Nigella's Mac and Cheese at weekend and it is not ultra rich as Lazymumofteenagesons said. Condensed milk is sweet, Evap is not.

I've made said macaroni cheese for my children. I ate most of it . It's fab. Not sweet.

My macaroni cheese is always too dry

Gordon Ramsey's mac cheese has got cream AND white wine AND egg yolks in it. I so want to make it some day.

I'm sorry Ilovetomarmitemarmite- I like macaroni cheese as much as the next person but I refuse to put knob butter in it.

Be grateful. I was onced served cauliflower cheese that had Ambrosia tinned rice pudding in it, and I'm not making that up.

Yes, evaporated milk is not condensed milk. Both have an old world post war feel to them. Why evaporated milk, why not fresh milk?

Oh my gawd. Nigella Lawson. Save me from her stupid fey stupidness and her stupid leering ... argh! and gah! and YUK YUK YUK!

Evap. in mac. cheese? Is she mad??

Blueshoes ... it's an illness. Delia's doing it with tins too. Is it credit crunch chic or something?

Bring back UHT, I say

I'm sure you could borrow a pint from Nigella.

yuk!

Yeuch that'd be very sweet wouldn't it?

How on earth her other half lost all that weight is beyond me. Oh, he ate eggs all the time didn't he?

So too many eggs or high fat macaroni not good on the colesterol front. Their dinner guests must go in armed with defibrillation kits.

Btw another yum suggestion for macaroni cheese are a couple of spoonfuls of mild curry power to the cheese sauce.

I saw her put dry roasted peanuts on top of an ice cream sundae once.

Morris, I so agree! Gorgeous book and a really great read. May even make something though possibly not this year! I have similar thoughts on the macaroni cheese (and doesn't Jamie make one that's just used pasta water and cheese - yuck!) but agree we should probably taste it first.

I think it's the idea of having a recipe for macaroni cheese that's a bit much (I put english mustard in mine too Morris!). Equally I'm not convinced I'd serve it for friends on Christmas Eve with the ham, though regularly chop the leftover ham through mine.

I thought her rant about religion and her views on paganism in the introduction were fascinating...

and it's only a tenner in John Lewis (free P&P) so a perfect gift!

Sounds absolutely disgusting! A classic recipe like that should absolutely not be messed with!

I do like Nigella but agree that she has some strange recipes, often disgustingly rich and fattening!

christmas eve - a load of macaroni and a big ham. Doesn't tempt me. On a Monday night, maybe.

jeezo, you'd be constipated all christmas day.