Cooking Lesson #1053: July 4th Mac & Cheese

…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? A couple of weeks ago—June 14th to be exact, we celebrated the 250th birthday of the United State Army. Shortly, we as a country will celebrate the 4th of July—Independence Day.
 
In the early days of our country there weren’t any supermarkets or Amazon. Most people lived on farms, so they grew, shot, foraged, or fished for their own food.
 
Many people didn't even have stoves, so they cooked their meals over an open fire in a fireplace or hearth. Which is all the more reason why I was surprised to find a recipe for "Maccaroni Cheese" in notes from the Jefferson papers along with recipes for venison, roasted hens and a type of sour dough bread.  

It turns out that one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, helped popularize "macaroni" in our country, "macaroni" being a general term he used for any pasta. According to Wikipedia, versions of macaroni pasta with cheese and butter were published in cookbooks as early as the 14th century.
 
A version of my  July 4th Mac & Cheese recipe first appeared in Godey's Lady's Book magazine in 1861 (circulation 150,000). It's only one sentence long, and as you will see, is wildly open for interpretation:
 
Boil the macaroni in milk; put in the stewpan butter, cheese, and seasoning; when melted, pour into the macaroni, putting breadcrumbs over, which brown before the fire all together.
 
How much milk? What kind of cheese? How much cheese? Which seasoning? Well, no one really knew.
 
The way I interpreted it, I used 2 cups of milk for every cup of elbow macaroni. I used equal amounts of pasta and cheddar cheese, plus a little parmesan and blue cheese. The seasonings used are pantry staples—nutmeg, pepper and cayenne.
 
Actually, mac and cheese is really fool proof. That said I’ve changed it up a bit and cooked the macaroni directly in milk as Jefferson suggested—2 cups of milk for every 1/4 pound of pasta works fine.
 
Prep time:  5 minutes
Boil time:  15 minutes
Oven time:  20 minutes   
Yield:  4 entrée servings or 8 sides dishes
 
Ingredients 
4 cups whole milk
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups packed, grated cheddar cheese (about 1/2 pound)
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon crumbled bleu cheese
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 to 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
 
Directions

1. Heat the milk in a large saucepan until steamy.
2. Stir in the dry macaroni pasta.
3. Let it come to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
4. Pay attention while the macaroni is cooking in the milk as the milk may foam up and boil over if the milk gets too hot. Then add 20 minutes to the time to clean the range top. 😊
5. Cook the macaroni for 15 minutes or until done, stirring occasionally.  The macaroni should absorb almost all of the milk.
6. As soon as the macaroni is close to being done, melt the butter in a separate saucepan, stir in the grated cheeses, black pepper to taste, freshly grated nutmeg and cayenne.
7. Once the cheeses have melted, pour the sauce into the macaroni and milk mixture and stir to combine. Taste and add salt if needed.
8. Place macaroni and cheese mixture into a baking dish.
9. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs.
10. Bake in a 400° F oven for 20 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.

ChefSecret:  You must use whole milk for this recipe. If you use low fat or non-fat milk, the mixture may curdle.  If the macaroni is a little too thick, drizzle a little whole milk over the macaroni and cheese before baking.

Quip of the Day:  Q. What do you call pasta with a cold?  A. Macaroni and sneeze!
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

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