If you don’t have an hour, I’ve been using variations of this recipe. It seems to be more forgiving on the items than they lead on. It’s still stovetop, and only takes the same time as a box would take.
They make a big deal about the cheese type and shredding it yourself. But, I never bother. Just buy a shredded cheese mix and it comes out fine. Our grocery has a “Mac N’ Cheese” mix that’s great. But, a Mexican mix comes out fine too. I haven’t tried it with just cheddar.
It’s not the same as a baked dish. But, it’s way better than the box for the same effort as the box.
@anon61833566
Kraft is so gross! When I was a kid my mom used to make the baked recipe from James Beard on Pasta (which, let me tell you, as a doesn’t-miss-cheese and kinda-grossed-out-by-milk vegan of a few decades, I still have very fond memories of ). We’d sometimes just bust out the sharp cheddar + butter into macaroni in the pot also. Friends would let me taste Kraft’s product, and I was pretty underwhelmed.
@anon61833566
Oh! I didn’t mean because you don’t eat a plant-based diet (I am a dietary pluralist, and militant vegans make me want to grab a cheeseburger topped with veal and aborted human fetus and go “MMMMMMMM!” while chowing down on it).
I meant that (professing) not listening to someone because they have a different point of view is just sad.
Enjoy your cheese, eggs and milk.
Also: Here’s the Beard recipe, so you can enjoy that cheesy-buttery goodness (tossing some broccoli florets in also a plus):
I have admittedly not sampled every single variety, but out of the ones that I have, the regular kraft mac n cheese is the best. Any sort of generic mac n cheese is absolutely horrible. I have experimented with homemade but have never been completely satisfied, I just can’t hit that level of intense cheesiness of kraft’s. Can get fairly close with extra sharp cheddar.
Cheese sauce can be hard to make. When you melt the cheese, the oils separate out and won’t mix back together. You need to add an emulsifier. That’s what makes Velveeta and American “cheese” different. They added an emulsifier so that the cheese stays creamy when it melts.
I use sodium citrate. You can use it to make cheese sauce with any kid of cheese.
). We’d sometimes just bust out the sharp cheddar + butter into macaroni in the pot also. Friends would let me taste Kraft’s product, and I was pretty underwhelmed.
