REQ: Baked Mac & Cheese

Goomba38 <[email hidden]> dropped this news:
[email hidden]: in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

I disagree. I did not grow up with "the blue box" nor "Velveeta" in my
house. We did have good cheeses and used them when cheese was called
for. Anything else tastes like an overly salty poor man's imitation.

I didn't grow up on "the blue box" or "Velveeta" either. I discovered those
2 vices in college and those are 2 vices I intend to keep 😉 I grew up on
deli food, take out and sometimes whatever horror my mother might decide to
cook.

Michael

--
Last words spoken before execution . . .

"Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel."
Executed in electric chair in New York.
~~ George Appel, d. 1928

Send email to: michael at lonergan dot us dot com

On Nov 1, 12:16 am, Wayne Boatwright <wayneboatwright_@_gmail.com>

Quoted message said:

I need a really good baked mac & cheese recipe that is fairly simple and
plain. By that, I mean no bits and pieces of tomatoes, meats, peppers,
diced onion, etc. A version that is creamy, with a good cheese flavor, and
forms a nice brown crust on top.

I have to bake this for my SO, David, who is the pickiest eater I've ever
known, and "foreign" matter just won't do. :-)

Anybody have one?

TIA

--
Wayne Boatwright
__________________________________________________

I have a rock garden, but three of them died last week.

I just make a bechamel and add lots of sharp Cheddar cheese which I've
shredded from a block of it. I put in a small amount of diced onion.
I cook the macaroni to al dente, drain, and stir it into the cheese
sauce. I always make way more sauce than I think I need, and somehow,
it all gets used up.

Use just a small amount of salt (the cheese is salty), pepper and some
paprika or even some ground red pepper if you want a little tang, for
seasoning.

The nice, crusty brown top comes from buttered FRESH bread crumbs.
Bake at 350 for a half hour, or until brown and bubbling on top.

N.

Oh pshaw, on Wed 31 Oct 2007 10:16:05p, Wayne Boatwright meant to say...

Quoted message said:

I need a really good baked mac & cheese recipe that is fairly simple and
plain. By that, I mean no bits and pieces of tomatoes, meats, peppers,
diced onion, etc. A version that is creamy, with a good cheese flavor,
and forms a nice brown crust on top.

I have to bake this for my SO, David, who is the pickiest eater I've
ever known, and "foreign" matter just won't do. :-)

Anybody have one?

TIA

Following up to my own post (which I know I shouldn't), I just wanted to
thank everybody for their ideas and recipes. I now have a host of them to
try out on David, and they all sound good. Well...with the possible
exception of the "blue box" (sorry Michael).

Thanks again... I have saved them all!

--
Wayne Boatwright

(to e-mail me direct, replace cox dot net with gmail dot com)
______________________________________________________________

It would seem that no matter how you slice it, it
still comes up Velveeta.

Michael 'Dog3 said:

Goomba38 <[email hidden]> dropped this news:
[email hidden]: in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

I disagree. I did not grow up with "the blue box" nor "Velveeta" in
my house. We did have good cheeses and used them when cheese was
called for. Anything else tastes like an overly salty poor man's
imitation.

I didn't grow up on "the blue box" or "Velveeta" either. I discovered
those 2 vices in college and those are 2 vices I intend to keep 😉 I
grew up on deli food, take out and sometimes whatever horror my
mother might decide to cook.

Michael

I didn't grow up with the Blue Box but Velveeta was the norm in our house.
Why? Because it's what the commissary carried and probably because it's
what one of Mom's friends said they used. But then, I don't get all hot and
bothered over wanting to go to a *chain* steakhouse while out of town on
business, either.

Jill (donning tiara and turning up her nose at chain steak houses,
regardless of name)

"Wayne Boatwright" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Oh pshaw, on Wed 31 Oct 2007 10:16:05p, Wayne Boatwright meant to say...

Quoted message said:

I need a really good baked mac & cheese recipe that is fairly simple and
plain. By that, I mean no bits and pieces of tomatoes, meats, peppers,
diced onion, etc. A version that is creamy, with a good cheese flavor,
and forms a nice brown crust on top.

I have to bake this for my SO, David, who is the pickiest eater I've
ever known, and "foreign" matter just won't do. :-)

Anybody have one?

TIA

Following up to my own post (which I know I shouldn't), I just wanted to
thank everybody for their ideas and recipes. I now have a host of them to
try out on David, and they all sound good. Well...with the possible
exception of the "blue box" (sorry Michael).

Thanks again... I have saved them all!

--
Wayne Boatwright

I'm thinking, Wayne, the cheeses in Martha's recipe might not be something
that David would like. It's a process to make, so I'd try another and
easier if you're aiming to please both your back and his palate.

Happy cooking,
Dee Dee

Andy said:

Quoted message said:

Wayne, please let us know how it turns out. I've been looking for
the "perfect" mac & cheese, too, and haven't found it yet.

Can you actually say perfect and mac'n'cheese in the same sentence?

Different strokes for different folks. I have had some really bland
macaroni and cheese and I have had some really good ones. I like it baked
with bread crumbs butter and Parmesan on top, but some people here don't
like that.

Goomba38 said:

Michael 'Dog3 said:

Sheldon <[email hidden]> dropped this
news:[email hidden]:in
rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> I need a really good baked mac & cheese recipe that is fairly simple
>> and plain.
> I have to bake this for my SO who is the pickiest eater I've ever
> known.
You don't need a recipe, you need a box.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.kraft.com/100/innovations/kraftmac.html

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sheldon

Quoted message said:

Make sure it's the original in the blue box. It's the best.

Quoted message said:

Michael

I disagree. I did not grow up with "the blue box" nor "Velveeta" in my
house. We did have good cheeses and used them when cheese was called
for. Anything else tastes like an overly salty poor man's imitation.

Cooking good cheese is dumb.

Like those who claim to use $100 scotch for sours.

Except for cost there really isn't much difference between the box and
mac n' cheese from scratch, the box requires milk and butter too, so
actually they cost the same. There's nothing wrong with dehy cheese
for cooking, it's real cheese with the water extracted, contains the
same salt as fresh cheese... if you think destroying top shelf cheese
by melting into pasta caserole is gourmet one can only imagine what
you call fine coozine at your house. There is no such thing as a
gourmet pasta dish... pasta is a filler, like rice, a way to stretch
the food dollar is all... pasta depreciates any ingredient it
touches. Melting fine cheese is just plain stupid, blending fine
cheese into a bechemel is utterly asinine. Even were one to prepare
mac n' cheese from scratch they'd be wise to use inexpensive generic
cheddar, cooking $20/lb cheddar is idiotic.

It's primarilly pasta, if you use the "box" and top with a few kraft
singles and seasoned bread crumbs no one can tell the difference.

Sheldon

Sheldon said:

It's primarilly pasta, if you use the "box" and top with a few kraft
singles and seasoned bread crumbs no one can tell the difference.

You didn't need to tell us that *you* can't tell the difference.

"jmcquown" wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I need a really good baked mac & cheese recipe that is fairly simple
and plain. By that, I mean no bits and pieces of tomatoes, meats,
peppers, diced onion, etc. A version that is creamy, with a good
cheese flavor, and forms a nice brown crust on top.

I'm going to break the barrier and say it. Velveeta. (whew!) Sorry, but

Grin, agree. Much as we might decry Velveeta, it has it's place in this
dish. I add other cheeses as well to it but base on velveeta.

Wayne, the 'secret' to a good Mac-n-cheese of the simple seeming type, is to
use several different cheeses in there. It adds a depth of flavor without
being obtrusive.

Your basic recipe is to melt cheese in milk, 2-3 tb flour, and 2-3 tb
butter. You want almost 50% cheese to milk using about 50% velveeta. The
other 50% of the cheese should be a mix of a decent mildish reasonably well
melting types. Aviod 'swiss' or anything strongly flavored that wouldnt
taste well with chedder (any type smoked cheese wont match this version).
Monterey Jack, Muenster, gruerer (sp?), Havarti, butter keiser etc are
decent choices. If you feel a little adventurous, consider a little plain
brie. To make it all look 'yellower' if that matters, a little tumeric wont
be tasted and will color it well. To get that golden brown top, grate
chedder (a reasonably hard one) over the top as you put it in the oven.

Cook the macaroni to almost 'done' but still not quite then run cold water
over it. Put this in a cassarole dish with a lid, pour your melted cheese
sauce on. There should be enough 'sauce' that the top layer of noodles
sticks up over it by about 1 noodle thickness. Dont worry, they will sink
down. Grate the chedder over the top and if desired, sprinkle with
breadcrumbs. Bake covered for about 1 hour (depends on how big the batch
was) at 350 then uncover and bake some more til the top browns up nicely.

Ask (um, SO, David?) if he likes to find lumps of molten cheese in there
still. Some consider that the charm. If so, you can do that by adding a
hard aged chedder in cubes sporadically poked down to the middle just before
you grate the toppping layer. Cracker Barrel extra sharp works well in 1x1
inch cubes for this.

Good like and hope you SO likes it!

Oh pshaw, on Thu 01 Nov 2007 12:07:55p, Dee.Dee meant to say...

Quoted message said:

"Wayne Boatwright" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Oh pshaw, on Wed 31 Oct 2007 10:16:05p, Wayne Boatwright meant to say...

Quoted message said:

I need a really good baked mac & cheese recipe that is fairly simple

and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

plain. By that, I mean no bits and pieces of tomatoes, meats, peppers,
diced onion, etc. A version that is creamy, with a good cheese flavor,
and forms a nice brown crust on top.

I have to bake this for my SO, David, who is the pickiest eater I've
ever known, and "foreign" matter just won't do. :-)

Anybody have one?

TIA

Following up to my own post (which I know I shouldn't), I just wanted to
thank everybody for their ideas and recipes. I now have a host of them

to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

try out on David, and they all sound good. Well...with the possible
exception of the "blue box" (sorry Michael).

Thanks again... I have saved them all!

--
Wayne Boatwright

I'm thinking, Wayne, the cheeses in Martha's recipe might not be

something

Quoted message said:

that David would like. It's a process to make, so I'd try another and
easier if you're aiming to please both your back and his palate.

Happy cooking,
Dee Dee

Thanks for the thoughtfulness, Dee. I would still like to give this one a
try, but I may try one of the other simpler ones first. More to please my
back than his palate. :-)

Actually. I can get David to eat quite a few different cheeses as long as
he doesn't really know what they are. It's "bits and pieces" of things in
dishes that he most strongly objects to.

--
Wayne Boatwright

(to e-mail me direct, replace cox dot net with gmail dot com)
______________________________________________________________

It would seem that no matter how you slice it, it
still comes up Velveeta.

Oh pshaw, on Thu 01 Nov 2007 06:36:42a, jmcquown meant to say...

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

I need a really good baked mac & cheese recipe that is fairly simple
and plain. By that, I mean no bits and pieces of tomatoes, meats,
peppers, diced onion, etc. A version that is creamy, with a good
cheese flavor, and forms a nice brown crust on top.

I have to bake this for my SO, David, who is the pickiest eater I've
ever known, and "foreign" matter just won't do. :-)

Anybody have one?

TIA

I'm going to break the barrier and say it. Velveeta. (whew!) Sorry, but
Velveeta melted into a white sauce and stirred into cooked macaroni, then
baked (about 350F Wayne, 30 minutes or so) makes the best mac & cheese.

Of

Quoted message said:

course you can do the same thing with a really good cheddar cheese, too.

I will *not* (at this moment!) go off on a tangent about how TV chefs

take

Quoted message said:

something so simple and try to turn it into something that would cost $9

as

Quoted message said:

a side dish in a restaurant!! LOL

Jill

Jill, I totally agree about Velveeta. It definitely has its unique place
in some recipes. I use it, along with some shredded swiss and cheddar, in
a pimiento cheese spread I make. It adds to the smoothness.

--
Wayne Boatwright

(to e-mail me direct, replace cox dot net with gmail dot com)
______________________________________________________________

It would seem that no matter how you slice it, it
still comes up Velveeta.

"jmcquown"

Quoted message said:

wait until I request a recipe for cooking the mahi mahi fillets I have!
No mango chutney! No pineapple! In fact, no sort of fruit or sweet glaze
at all! And <gasp> not grilled! Good lord, I must be insane!
Ahhahahahaha
😉

Mahi Mahi Mexicali sound good?

I'll post it for ya in a second.
xxcarol

Sheldon said:

Cooking good cheese is dumb.

Like those who claim to use $100 scotch for sours.

Except for cost there really isn't much difference between the box and
mac n' cheese from scratch, the box requires milk and butter too, so
actually they cost the same. There's nothing wrong with dehy cheese
for cooking, it's real cheese with the water extracted, contains the
same salt as fresh cheese... if you think destroying top shelf cheese
by melting into pasta caserole is gourmet one can only imagine what
you call fine coozine at your house. There is no such thing as a
gourmet pasta dish... pasta is a filler, like rice, a way to stretch
the food dollar is all... pasta depreciates any ingredient it
touches. Melting fine cheese is just plain stupid, blending fine
cheese into a bechemel is utterly asinine. Even were one to prepare
mac n' cheese from scratch they'd be wise to use inexpensive generic
cheddar, cooking $20/lb cheddar is idiotic.

It's primarilly pasta, if you use the "box" and top with a few kraft
singles and seasoned bread crumbs no one can tell the difference.

Sheldon

Just when I thought Sheldon had changed and come up with a few good
ideas, it turns out he's still a [censored] at heart. I'd left this group (not
even lurking about) because of Sheldon's antics. You might say to block
him, but very often there are some threads that he's posted to that have
something I'm interested in, and Mac email clients don't have per person
blocking (at least none that I can find; if there is one, would someone
kindly point me to them?), so as it stands if I want to block him, I
can't see the thread.
--
Jack N2MPU
Proud NRA Life Member

Oh pshaw, on Thu 01 Nov 2007 07:09:27p, Cshenk meant to say...

Quoted message said:

Jack, understood but you just fed the troll (grin).

And this is one those nasty little trolls that lives under a bridge.

I'm sure glad my killfile works!

--
Wayne Boatwright

(to e-mail me direct, replace cox dot net with gmail dot com)
______________________________________________________________

Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.

Oh pshaw, on Thu 01 Nov 2007 07:17:59p, Cshenk meant to say...

Quoted message said:

"Wayne Boatwright" wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Jack, understood but you just fed the troll (grin).

Quoted message said:

And this is one those nasty little trolls that lives under a bridge.

He likes to jump ot and rudely attack. So far, havent seen a post of
merit from him but he can be amusingly stupid.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure glad my killfile works!

Hehe I need a real client. BTW, I think I know you from ages past in
Fidonet?
xxcarol

That could be. Your handle seems familiar.

Do you use Windows, Mac, or Unix? I use Xnews which can be run on Windows
or Unix.

--
Wayne Boatwright

(to e-mail me direct, replace cox dot net with gmail dot com)
______________________________________________________________

Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.

"Sheldon" wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Except for cost there really isn't much difference between the box and
mac n' cheese from scratch, the box requires milk and butter too, so

And you called my recipes white trash? Sheldon, the real thing is 300 times
better.

Quoted message said:

It's primarilly pasta, if you use the "box" and top with a few kraft
singles and seasoned bread crumbs no one can tell the difference.

Snort. Thats the funniest thing I've seen here yet.

jmcquown said:

I didn't grow up with the Blue Box but Velveeta was the norm in our house.
Why? Because it's what the commissary carried and probably because it's
what one of Mom's friends said they used.

You've often said your mom was a lousy cook. Thankfully my folks were
good cooks and in particular my father had very high expectations for
what he ate. Thankfully the commissary also sells macaroni and blocks of
good cheddar cheese for folks who want the "out of the box" kind.

But then, I don't get all hot and

Quoted message said:

bothered over wanting to go to a *chain* steakhouse while out of town on
business, either.

Huh? Where is this coming from? LOL. Out of the blue...? Hmmmmm

Quoted message said:

Jill (donning tiara and turning up her nose at chain steak houses,
regardless of name)

Goomba (employed and extremely lucky that companies invite her out and
pick up the tab when she goes to conferences, expensive steak houses
included!)

Jack, understood but you just fed the troll (grin).

"Jack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:gusWi.104$If.20@trndny07...

Quoted message said:

Sheldon said:

Cooking good cheese is dumb.

Like those who claim to use $100 scotch for sours.

Except for cost there really isn't much difference between the box and
mac n' cheese from scratch, the box requires milk and butter too, so
actually they cost the same. There's nothing wrong with dehy cheese
for cooking, it's real cheese with the water extracted, contains the
same salt as fresh cheese... if you think destroying top shelf cheese
by melting into pasta caserole is gourmet one can only imagine what
you call fine coozine at your house. There is no such thing as a
gourmet pasta dish... pasta is a filler, like rice, a way to stretch
the food dollar is all... pasta depreciates any ingredient it
touches. Melting fine cheese is just plain stupid, blending fine
cheese into a bechemel is utterly asinine. Even were one to prepare
mac n' cheese from scratch they'd be wise to use inexpensive generic
cheddar, cooking $20/lb cheddar is idiotic.

It's primarilly pasta, if you use the "box" and top with a few kraft
singles and seasoned bread crumbs no one can tell the difference.

Sheldon

Just when I thought Sheldon had changed and come up with a few good ideas,
it turns out he's still a [censored] at heart. I'd left this group (not even
lurking about) because of Sheldon's antics. You might say to block him,
but very often there are some threads that he's posted to that have
something I'm interested in, and Mac email clients don't have per person
blocking (at least none that I can find; if there is one, would someone
kindly point me to them?), so as it stands if I want to block him, I can't
see the thread.
--
Jack N2MPU
Proud NRA Life Member

"Wayne Boatwright" wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Jack, understood but you just fed the troll (grin).

Quoted message said:

And this is one those nasty little trolls that lives under a bridge.

He likes to jump ot and rudely attack. So far, havent seen a post of merit
from him but he can be amusingly stupid.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure glad my killfile works!

Hehe I need a real client. BTW, I think I know you from ages past in
Fidonet?
xxcarol

Wayne Boatwright said:

Oh pshaw, on Thu 01 Nov 2007 07:17:59p, Cshenk meant to say...

Quoted message said:

"Wayne Boatwright" wrote

Quoted message said:

> Jack, understood but you just fed the troll (grin).
And this is one those nasty little trolls that lives under a bridge.

He likes to jump ot and rudely attack. So far, havent seen a post of
merit from him but he can be amusingly stupid.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure glad my killfile works!

Hehe I need a real client. BTW, I think I know you from ages past in
Fidonet?
xxcarol

That could be. Your handle seems familiar.

Do you use Windows, Mac, or Unix? I use Xnews which can be run on Windows
or Unix.

You mentioned Unix - would that (Xnews) also include the Mac OS Tiger
that is based supposedly on Unix?

--
Jack N2MPU
Proud NRA Life Member