Mac ‘n’ Cheese might be one of the only American dishes that when you ask someone to imagine what it looks like, you will get many different descriptions. It might be a white casserole looking thing with slightly brown edges. It could be a creamy bright orange sauce that covers your noodles. Even when thinking only about the pre-packaged mixes, shells might come to mind or small little elbows. When asked how it is prepared do you think of a stove, oven, or microwave? Mac ‘n’ Cheese is a very personal comfort food. Something you can easily make yourself and make it your own.
If you are going to make it yourself, you will have to make a bechamel sauce first. Bechamel is a simple white sauce to make. First you make a roux. A roux is a mixture of flour, butter, and milk mixed over heat. Some people are afraid of burning a roux but a roux for mac ‘n’ cheese only needs to be cooked to the point where the raw taste of the flour goes away and the sauce begins to thicken. After you make your bechamel you need to turn it into a mornay sauce. Just a quick note, I am not sure if bechamel and mornay should be capitalized. Both are named after people.
To make a mornay sauce you just add cheese to your bechamel. This is where you can start to make it your own. What cheese can you choose? Well your choices for a base cheese are limited to a cheese that will completely melt. This means that it will not be grainy like a parmesan or stringy like mozzarella. Now these cheeses can be added later, you can add almost any cheese later to add flavor but it cannot be base. A mornay base is traditionally gruyere but in Mac ‘n’ Cheese it is tradition to use cheddar.
The Mac ‘n’ Cheese in the picture above is a partially stolen recipe. I started with a normal roux but as I added the milk (make sure you have no lumps before the next step) I also scooped in about three-quarters of a can of cream of mushroom soup. To quote my friend: “And the mushroom adds like an extra tang to the cheese right? It sgoodpopp”. He may or may not have been day drinking. After adding the cream of mushroom and a little more milk I added the cheese. For this I used about a half pound of cooper cheese and about half as much New York sharp cheddar. For seasoning I added garlic powder, onion powder, and white pepper to taste. Don’t forget to top with bread crumbs.
Mac ‘n’ Cheese is a traditional English dish and cheddar is the traditional English cheese. This is why it is often bright orange or white. While it existed before, the first official recipe was published in 1770, the dish could have easily existed before the date. Speaking of the 1770's, the birthday of the United States coming up next week. Mac ‘n’ Cheese was a favorite dish of Thomas Jefferson. Favorite is almost an understatement. While in Europe on official duties in the 1780’s he began to obsess. Some say he began to design a machine that would automate the making of macaroni. Maybe if he could have succeeded in making this machine he would have had time to end slavery. Happy 4th of July everyone!