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Macaroni
& Cheese
Michelle Greenwald, writing on the Yahoo! website
1/25/09, says, "The best mac 'n' cheese I ever tasted was made by Norma Jean Darden, the
owner of Miss Maude's and Miss Mamie's soul food restaurants and Spoonbread Catering in New
York City--check out the recipe below. But you can also easily create international versions
of mac 'n' cheese by adding locally popular cheeses and proteins such as salami, ham, or
shrimp and local flavors such as dill or chili peppers
".
- 2 cups dry
macaroni pasta
- 2 teaspoons salt for
cooking water
- 1 can (12 oz)
evaporated milk
- 2 large eggs,
beaten
- 3 cups cheddar
cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick)
butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon
salt
preheat oven to 350
degrees F.
grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish
cook pasta in salty boiling water until "al dente", drain & set
aside
in large bowl, beat eggs & whisk in evaporated milk until well
blended. Then add 2/3rds of the cheese, the 1/2 teaspoon of salt, butter, & cooked
pasta.
pour mixture into greased dish & rest of butter evenly over
top.
bake until custard sets & cheese top golden brown...about 40
minutes.
******Wuh's "mustardy" mac & cheese recipe, below******
My grandmother (Mildred Hall "Wuh" Brown) preferred cubed cheddar cheese layered between thin
spaghetti noodles & with yellow mustard squirted mildly liberally around the surface of each layer. I have
always preferred New York State extra sharp cheddar cheese. In the above web article, ethnic
variations are noted (see below). Cousin Em Cain Shuman remembers her mother, Aunt Bootee, using the approximate recipe that follows. To make Wuh's "mac and cheese" for eight persons, (1) you cook the angle hair (or other) spaghetti noodles & drain, (2) make a "sauce" of milk, mustard, salt & black pepper, plus two large eggs stirred together and (3) made in two layers in a baking dish.
INGREDIENTS:
- angle hair or other spaghetti noodles, 14 ounce pack or box. Cook in water with a little oil & water added so that they don't stick together when draining.
- sauce: combine two large fresh eggs, half cup whole milk, two teaspoons of yellow mustard from a squirt container, some salt & pepper,
- cheese: cube (to finger-tip size) a pound block of extra-sharp or sharp cheddar cheese,
- butter: a stick of butter is needed,
- whole milk, quart: the half cup of milk for the above sauce comes from this.
- oven: preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
PROCESS: (1) make a bottom layer of spaghetti noodles in the baking dish with half of the noodles. Then space lots of cheese cubes around on top of noodles, space some sliced "pats" of butter around amongst the cheese cubes. The quantity depending on how "mustardy" you like things, spurt little streaks of mustard from the squirt container onto the cheese cubes & butter "pats" surface. (2) now put the rest of the pasta noodles onto the surface to make a second layer & repeat the addition of cheese, butter, and mustard onto that top layer. Then, pour the sauce gently all over the top. Lastly, use your reserve quart of milk to fill the baking dish almost to the top of the noodles. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let it set for at least 10 minutes and then let the family & guests enjoy. With time, you will get to know how to adjust the amount of cheese and mustard to make the taste pleasing to most of your participating family and friends.
******also, ethnic variations on the Greenwald recipe******
- Italian: use 4
ounces of thin sliced & then 1/4 inch cubed salami, a cup of sun dried tomatoes, and
Italian blend cheese.
- Mexican: a 4
ounce can chopped chilis & Mexican blend cheese.
- Swiss: 6 ounces thin
ham cubed as in Italian, above; Swiss cheese.
- Danish: 2 cups
cooked baby shrimp chopped coarse, 1/2 cup or more chopped fresh dill; Havarti
cheese
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(posted 1 February 2009; update 30 September 2016)
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