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Best mac & cheese recipe?

Saint Austin

By Saint Austin
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Saint Austin

Saint Austin 745

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We're doing an immediate-family-only Thanksgiving dinner this year, and my yankee-born wife refuses to acknowledge mac & cheese as a proper Thanksgiving side. Without her help, I'm left to make it for the kids and myself to enjoy. As both ovens are apparently already spoken for, any recommendations for a non-bake recipe?

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Mo Horn

Mo Horn 8849

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When our kids were young they loved the stuff, so once we took time to find a recipe, and buy several different cheeses to make it from scratch. They took one bite and said this isn't mac and cheese because it didn't taste like the blue box. To this day, that's all they'll eat. Grill a $40.00 streak and eat it with blue box mac and cheese. 

CSB

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dcbc

dcbc 14487

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Hard to argue with a Luby's recipe, but if you want to do a bit fancier, this one is damned good and will put you on the couch afterward.

Mac and Texas Cheeses with Roasted Chiles

by Grady Spears

The Texas Cowboy Kitchen

serves 6 to 8

  • 4 poblano chiles
  • 1 cup plus 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 3 cups grated caciotta or monterey jack cheese
  • 1 cup goat cheese
  • kosher salt
  • 1  1/2 pounds cooked macaroni
  • 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
  • 2 cups grated asiago or parmesan cheese
 
~~~~~~~~~

Roasted Chiles

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Place the chiles on a greased baking sheet and cook, using tongs to turn chiles after 8 to 10 minutes, so that they blacken evenly on all sides.  When blackened, remove from the oven and seal the chiles inside plastic bags from 10 minutes.  Remove the chiles from the bags and slip off the blistered skins.  When cooled, remove the seeds and stems and cut into strips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mac-and-texas-cheeses-with-roasted-chile

Mac and Cheese

Lower the oven temperature to 370 degrees.  Using 1 tablespoon of butter, grease a medium casserole dish and set aside.  In a saucepan, heat the cream and milk over medium – high heat.  In a separate sauce melt the remaining butter over medium heat.  Whisk the flour into the melted butter, stirring over medium heat for approximately 1 minute.  Slowly pour in the heated whipping cream, whisking the mixture until it thickens.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the caciotta and goat cheese.  Season with salt and set aside.  In a large mixing combine the macaroni, cream mixture, and green chiles, mixing gently until well combined.  Pour the macaroni into the greased baking dish and evenly spread the bread crumbs and grated asiago cheese over the top.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is browned.

image.png

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Hpara759

Hpara759 1780

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On 11/20/2020 at 6:48 PM, dcbc said:

Hard to argue with a Luby's recipe, but if you want to do a bit fancier, this one is damned good and will put you on the couch afterward.

Mac and Texas Cheeses with Roasted Chiles

by Grady Spears

The Texas Cowboy Kitchen

serves 6 to 8

  • 4 poblano chiles
  • 1 cup plus 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 3 cups grated caciotta or monterey jack cheese
  • 1 cup goat cheese
  • kosher salt
  • 1  1/2 pounds cooked macaroni
  • 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
  • 2 cups grated asiago or parmesan cheese
 
~~~~~~~~~

Roasted Chiles

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Place the chiles on a greased baking sheet and cook, using tongs to turn chiles after 8 to 10 minutes, so that they blacken evenly on all sides.  When blackened, remove from the oven and seal the chiles inside plastic bags from 10 minutes.  Remove the chiles from the bags and slip off the blistered skins.  When cooled, remove the seeds and stems and cut into strips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mac-and-texas-cheeses-with-roasted-chile

Mac and Cheese

Lower the oven temperature to 370 degrees.  Using 1 tablespoon of butter, grease a medium casserole dish and set aside.  In a saucepan, heat the cream and milk over medium – high heat.  In a separate sauce melt the remaining butter over medium heat.  Whisk the flour into the melted butter, stirring over medium heat for approximately 1 minute.  Slowly pour in the heated whipping cream, whisking the mixture until it thickens.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the caciotta and goat cheese.  Season with salt and set aside.  In a large mixing combine the macaroni, cream mixture, and green chiles, mixing gently until well combined.  Pour the macaroni into the greased baking dish and evenly spread the bread crumbs and grated asiago cheese over the top.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is browned.

image.png

substitute Hatch Green Chiles.....

tenor.gif

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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On 11/20/2020 at 10:06 AM, Saint Austin said:

We're doing an immediate-family-only Thanksgiving dinner this year, and my yankee-born wife refuses to acknowledge mac & cheese as a proper Thanksgiving side. Without her help, I'm left to make it for the kids and myself to enjoy. As both ovens are apparently already spoken for, any recommendations for a non-bake recipe?

Wait...mac n cheese is an acceptable side for Thanksgiving?  Fuck yeah!  I’m gonna have to get in on this shit.  I’ll run it by the wife and report back

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31493

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Most of the no-bake mac recipes are going to call for a bechamel type sauce heavy on the cheese.  That means that leftovers are going to separate.  It's still pretty good, but doesn't look that great and kids may rebel.  Even some of the bake recipes will.

I didn't like dressing as a kid.  My mom made mac n cheese as her mother did, with vermicelli, as a substitute.  Everyone always got some, so it proved to be pretty popular.

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crainiac

crainiac 37

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Most of the no-bake mac recipes are going to call for a bechamel type sauce heavy on the cheese.  That means that leftovers are going to separate.  It's still pretty good, but doesn't look that great and kids may rebel.  Even some of the bake recipes will.
I didn't like dressing as a kid.  My mom made mac n cheese as her mother did, with vermicelli, as a substitute.  Everyone always got some, so it proved to be pretty popular.

I’ve never had it separate even after a couple of days in the fridge. It never lasts more than two.


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Surly Bevo

Surly Bevo 25009

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1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Most of the no-bake mac recipes are going to call for a bechamel type sauce heavy on the cheese.  That means that leftovers are going to separate.  I

This is why if you are trying to do it on the fly you use you some velveeta in the bechamel and avoid the separation issues of real cheese.

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RollLeft

RollLeft 5045

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On 11/20/2020 at 10:06 AM, Saint Austin said:

We're doing an immediate-family-only Thanksgiving dinner this year, and my yankee-born wife refuses to acknowledge mac & cheese as a proper Thanksgiving side. Without her help, I'm left to make it for the kids and myself to enjoy. As both ovens are apparently already spoken for, any recommendations for a non-bake recipe?

While not opposed to mac.  I can't remember it ever being served in our house.  

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Kringelbert Fishtybuns

Kringelbert Fishtybuns 943

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On 11/23/2020 at 9:17 PM, TwiceHorn said:

Most of the no-bake mac recipes are going to call for a bechamel type sauce heavy on the cheese.  That means that leftovers are going to separate.  It's still pretty good, but doesn't look that great and kids may rebel.  Even some of the bake recipes will.

If you use evap milk/mustard combo instead, the separation isn’t bad.  If it does, a little milk and heat will bring it back.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31493

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On 11/20/2020 at 12:36 PM, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Here's the recipe if you just have to make it yourself

image.thumb.png.25ae9cd390aada277d63ead598f89d58.png

Do not attempt to grate velveeta.  It's a fucking unholy mess.

I cant find the shred blade for our FP, but I think it would be an unholy mess there too.  If you can't buy it shredded, fuhgeddabout it.

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dcbc

dcbc 14487

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6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Do not attempt to grate velveeta.  It's a fucking unholy mess.

I cant find the shred blade for our FP, but I think it would be an unholy mess there too.  If you can't buy it shredded, fuhgeddabout it.

If you have to do it, pop the cheese in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm it up and hit the front of your cheese grater with a little nonstick cooking spray.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31493

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12 minutes ago, dcbc said:

If you have to do it, pop the cheese in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm it up and hit the front of your cheese grater with a little nonstick cooking spray.

Tried.

I'm gonna fucking freeze it.

You can't even cube it with a knife.  I always thought it was horrible shit, now I'm convinced.  It's the food equivalent of that shit Terminator II was made of, except it's not shiny and doesn't flow.

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luke duke

luke duke 6413

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When our kids were young they loved the stuff, so once we took time to find a recipe, and buy several different cheeses to make it from scratch. They took one bite and said this isn't mac and cheese because it didn't taste like the blue box. To this day, that's all they'll eat. Grill a $40.00 streak and eat it with blue box mac and cheese. 
CSB


My kids are stupid too.
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dcbc

dcbc 14487

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28 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Tried.

I'm gonna fucking freeze it.

You can't even cube it with a knife.  I always thought it was horrible shit, now I'm convinced.  It's the food equivalent of that shit Terminator II was made of, except it's not shiny and doesn't flow.

I don't bother with it.  The only time the stuff is in our house is when my wife wants to make chicken spaghetti. 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31493

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3 minutes ago, elfenix said:

Go to HEB and get some boar's head american from the deli counter. Thin slices should be easy to incorporate and it's not kraft singles garbage.

Actually, I may be able to pull off thinnish slices from the velveeta block once near frozen.  It doesn't really have to be shredded.  But it's hard to do much of anything with even refrigerated velveeta.

I guess I must confess unfamiliarity with pasteurized processed cheese food varieties as I would never buy it for anything but a recipe.  Velveeta/Extra Melt/Cheez Whiz/American Singles are the extent of my knowledge.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31493

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Also confounding.  Where the hell does a food processor blade go?  It's not like it has some utility in something else.  I guess it got packed away separate somehow when we moved.

Still, I would be afraid that the velveeta would reconstitute itself as a glob of cheezy shit before you could finish shredding it up.

What should be a 10-15 minute grating job has turned into the death march of food prep.

Also amusing.  Our cats love cheese and will come from anywhere in the house when they hear cheese wrappers or smell it.  They are giving zero fucks about the pile of grated velveeta sitting on the counter.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31493

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2 hours ago, Surly Bevo said:

Why the hell would you need to grate velveeta? Shit is made to melt.  Use your fingers if you can't figure out how to use a knife on it (which isn't that hard)

Well I suppose, as mentioned, you don't need to grate it.  But the only heat in that recipe until baking is the boiling water.  So you have to knock it down into some kind of small chunks or something you can beat with the roux.  You can kind of crumble it after you semi freeze it, so that's what I did.

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dcbc

dcbc 14487

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24 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well I suppose, as mentioned, you don't need to grate it.  But the only heat in that recipe until baking is the boiling water.  So you have to knock it down into some kind of small chunks or something you can beat with the roux.  You can kind of crumble it after you semi freeze it, so that's what I did.

Just reread the OP.  He said the ovens were occupied.  Why can't he just make it in a pot on the stovetop.  Boil the macaroni.  Make a cheese sauce, mix, and serve.  Maybe go grab a torch and flame the top a bit?

Edited by dcbc
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BurntOrange&White

BurntOrange&White 39934

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2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well I suppose, as mentioned, you don't need to grate it.  But the only heat in that recipe until baking is the boiling water.  So you have to knock it down into some kind of small chunks or something you can beat with the roux.  You can kind of crumble it after you semi freeze it, so that's what I did.

Nuke it then pour it in then mix 

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Mrs Whiggins

Mrs Whiggins 13050

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6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Actually, I may be able to pull off thinnish slices from the velveeta block once near frozen.  It doesn't really have to be shredded.  But it's hard to do much of anything with even refrigerated velveeta.

I guess I must confess unfamiliarity with pasteurized processed cheese food varieties as I would never buy it for anything but a recipe.  Velveeta/Extra Melt/Cheez Whiz/American Singles are the extent of my knowledge.

Dental floss. If you don’t have a ‘wire’ cheese slicer or the slicer can’t adjust for what you need, then dental floss makes decent slices which can then be cubed. I’ve used it to level cakes when I don’t want to use a knife sometimes too. 
 

 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31493

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Well, I ended up with about half or a third grated and the rest sort of crumbled up (~1/4") after freezing (not solid, but longer than 10-15)  the velveeta.  And you have to refreeze it because it warms from your hands and becomes a sticky mess again before you can finish grating or crumbling.

And I just left it on the wax paper and put it in the fridge, and it still attempted to reassemble itself.

And, yeah, for stirring it in with the roux, that was probably about as big as you can use it and still have it stir smooth.

To adultify it a little more, added mustard, tabasco, and garlic powder.  I may have overdone the mustard.  😈 🤡 We'll see after the final bake.

I have never cooked with velveeta other than to dump it in a crockpot with rotel.  And I don't think I ever purchased singles or some other form of "American cheese" in my life.  Rather than look up this thread, I found the recipe on food.com, I believe, and it lacked the deli counter mention, which might have been a help.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31493

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On 11/26/2020 at 8:18 AM, TwiceHorn said:

Well, I ended up with about half or a third grated and the rest sort of crumbled up (~1/4") after freezing (not solid, but longer than 10-15)  the velveeta.  And you have to refreeze it because it warms from your hands and becomes a sticky mess again before you can finish grating or crumbling.

And I just left it on the wax paper and put it in the fridge, and it still attempted to reassemble itself.

And, yeah, for stirring it in with the roux, that was probably about as big as you can use it and still have it stir smooth.

To adultify it a little more, added mustard, tabasco, and garlic powder.  I may have overdone the mustard.  😈 🤡 We'll see after the final bake.

I have never cooked with velveeta other than to dump it in a crockpot with rotel.  And I don't think I ever purchased singles or some other form of "American cheese" in my life.  Rather than look up this thread, I found the recipe on food.com, I believe, and it lacked the deli counter mention, which might have been a help.

Reprising this recipe.  The deli counter American cheese grates.  Velveeta does not.  The deli counter stuff costs more than twice as much, but worth it for the convenience.

The recipe made with Velveeta tasted slightly salty to me and I didn't add much salt,  We'll see how the deli counter stuff affects things.

 

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