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[hector13]

I have found, at least for the British variety of Kraft mac and cheese (the cleverly titled Cheesy Pasta) tastes significantly better without adding the milk.

I don’t usually have an opportunity to test it with the US variety as I don’t tend to make it just for me.

[Rolan7]

And here I am with these assorted veggie pasta and a rice cooker, and trying to nail down the cook time that makes them soft but not soggy.  Don't let the rice cooker run the whole course - that makes a mess.

A mess of perfectly nutritious goop, partially charred into carbon, one feels obligated to eat.

Edit: Doesn't bother me that much.  I guess I'm just built different - dining is different than consuming nutrients to stay alive.

Edit2: Dining involves cheese.
that's so true though omgs, I need to buy more cheese and improve my daily diet tenfold

[wierd]

Concerning mac and cheese:

The solution, is to cook it this way:


Cook the noodles separate, but cook them last.

First, take about 1 to 2 tbs of softened butter, and whisk the powder with it into a paste. Add another 2tbs of heavy whipping cream to the paste. It should become a kind of gritty ketchup-like consistency.
Microwave it for about 30 seconds, then whisk it liberally. This will magically convert it from gritty ketchup to "nacho-cheese" consistency.

Scald just enough milk (about 1/4 cup?) to toss with the drained pasta, then whisk in the reconstituted cheese sauce.  Rather than being runny and watery, it should be thick and cheesy.

[Rolan7]

Concerning mac and cheese:

The solution, is to cook it this way:


Cook the noodles separate, but cook them last.

First, take about 1 to 2 tbs of softened butter, and whisk the powder with it into a paste. Add another 2tbs of heavy whipping cream to the paste. It should become a kind of gritty ketchup-like consistency.
Microwave it for about 30 seconds, then whisk it liberally. This will magically convert it from gritty ketchup to "nacho-cheese" consistency.

Scald just enough milk (about 1/4 cup?) to toss with the drained pasta, then whisk in the reconstituted cheese sauce.  Rather than being runny and watery, it should be thick and cheesy.

Every time I chat nutrition with with my family, and they call me a good cook when I talk about slow-cooking various vegetables and throwing in some wild mix of spices- I'd like to point them to this.

Perhaps: Anyone can take food, water, and a container and make a food that's a whole lot more nutritious and cheaper than premade stuff.

Some people know how to make it really taste good though!!!

[wierd]

There is a reason to mix the butter with the powder first. 

Doing so prevents heavy clumping of the powder, that would otherwise cause an un-even/lumpy cheese sauce. It will suspend much more evenly with the whipping cream if creamed with the butter first. Any clumping that does happen, will break down easily because it will be a lipid based clump that will come apart easily when exposed to heat and moisture. (as opposed to a moisture based clump, that will CONGEAL when heated.)

The commercial dry mac and cheese contains defatted cheese powder, because milk fats go rancid.  This makes the cheese sauce "not taste right", and ruins the mouth-feel.  You have to resupply the milkfats, which is why you use butter and heavy whipping cream. 

You can kinda-sorta get away with not using heavy whipping cream, and use whole milk instead, but it is noplace near as creamy or smooth. 


The measures are approximate:  Different brands supply a different sized pouch of dry powder.  Measures are for the Kraft single-serve size boxes.   Mostly, you want to have the consistencies right.  After mixing with butter, it should be a stiff paste.  After mixing with the heavy cream, it should be "thick gritty ketchup" like.   Time in the microwave is also approximate.  You want to heat it just enough to melt the butter and start to set the starches in the mix powder, but not enough to scald or burn it. (doing so will make irreparable lumps that taste bad, and will ruin the sauce.)


To make it actually nutritious, you would need to add some actually nutritious food item to it.  Mac and Cheese is basically nothing but starch and fat, with an assload of salt. 

[Egan_BW]

Is the powder worth it? Why bother doing all that stuff to it when you could just make a cream sauce with cheese in it?

[wierd]

Convenience.  Also, taste is different.  Kraft and Co use cheddar cheese, which is notoriously difficult to make a good sauce with.

[Rolan7]

Wierd can cook well briefly, despite also cooking annoyingly good recipes.

Some people are just good with food.

[Egan_BW]

Convenience.  Also, taste is different.  Kraft and Co use cheddar cheese, which is notoriously difficult to make a good sauce with.

Really? I've been pretty successful just dumping some shredded cheddar into a béchamel sauce.

[wierd]

Depends on the cheddar.

Mild cheddars are easier to work with than medium or aged cheddars.  The latter tend to separate into oil and stringy bits that dont dissolve.  You have to instead, crumble the cheese and mix with cold milk, stir to crumble further, add a tiny amount of starch, then whisk and while putting under the most gentle of heat.  (otherwise it will separate, and do bad nasty things. By gentlest of heat, I mean barely warming it at all, almost like a reduction sauce. You want the starch to start setting before the cheese even tries to melt, or the milk even thinks about scalding.)

The alternative, is to add the starch to the milk, set it, (heat the milk to just scaled, mix the starch into cold milk, then whisk the two together in the pan quickly. If using flour, you need to create a roux with fat to remove the raw flour taste. Heat the flour with the fat, then remove from heat, and whisk in warmed but not hot milk. Stir viggorously until combined, then return to heat to set.) THEN stir in the cheese after taking off the heat.  Hard cheeses tend to not want to melt that way though.

In all cases, avoid overcooking.  Heat until set, but no further.


(Creating a sauce the old fashioned way requires you to know how to deal with the differences between flour and starch, how to make a roux if applicable, et al.  Compared to instant mac and cheese, where it is aimed at people that can burn water.)

[Lord Shonus]

In unrelated wtf, cheetoes mac and cheese... exists. I saw it existed, and had to try. I'm about to try -- it is cooked. It looks... like cheetoes (probably the most inappropriate color of mac and cheese I've ever made, the king of what-the-hell-is-this-no-really orange). It smells like cheetoes.

It tastes... like watery cheetoes. Okay. I'm not sure if this is the worst mac and cheese I've ever eaten, but. Close! Ahaha!

E: That said, the noodles they used are actually pretty decent quality. I've definitely had much worse macaroni in my mac and cheese. Too bad about the rest of it :V

This is precisely my experience. Thing is, I found that the flavor actually works as a pasta sauce. It just needs to be much stronger.

[Egan_BW]

The "sharp white cheddar" stuff we get from aldi probably is on the mild side of things which could be called sharp, and isn't as hard as the really aged stuff, but it melts into béchamel just fine. Your instructions on how to make craft powder edible seem beyond the abilities of someone who's burn water anyways.

Are you sure you're not being too particular? All I have to do is melt some butter, mix flour into it, and then add milk from the jug while mixing it up until it resembles a sauce. At which point cheese can be safely added having taken off the heat. Works with grated parmesan too. Consistency is variable but if I do it enough times I'll get a feel for it.

[wierd]

I suppose in both cases.

I personally think that the microwave instant sauce is immeasurably faster/easier than a from scratch sauce, but that's just me.  You just have to understand it a little.

[McTraveller]

If I make box mac & cheese I will usually do the standard box prep instructions, but using half the butter, and then throw in one or two slices of pepper or colby jack after mixing in the powder mix.  This adds some consistency and flavor.

My preferred mac & cheese though is to cook the noodles, then add them and cubed cheeses of choice to a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes or so, along with some condensed milk.  Take it out and stir - it's great.  Of course, I love the occasional crispy bits in the noodles, but some don't like that.

(I was the kid that liked the crispy bits of lasagna, too.)

[Frumple]

Ngl, my legit favorite way to make mac and cheese is just nuke it -- standard box is two cups water to the box, microwave 3 minutes, three times, stirring each stop. It tends to make a pretty nice consistency out of the mac, and you can do other stuff after to make the cheese do well. There's probably better ways to do it, but it's quick and remarkably effective, only issue is it'll boil over a bit, sometimes (also the bowl you cook it in may try to melt your flesh, so, y'know, oven mitts or paper towel when removing or something). If you've never cooked a box of mac and cheese in the microwave, I'd recommend giving it a shot.

... anyway, the cheeto thing didn't have a watery consistency -- the cheese and whatnot congealed or whatever just fine. Texture/consistency of the cheese was okay. The taste was just remarkably weak for something that looked and smelled like a cheese abomination. It didn't taste like a cheese abomination, it tasted like barely anything, which isn't something that should happen in regards to something that shade of orange. That shit should taste like cheese acid or something, but it doesn't.

also yeah the crispy bits of the lasagna is the best part, same for the cheese of a similar consistency on pizzas -- stuff is basically like fried chicken skin, except cheese. Someone really needs to figure out how to market that stuff as like... cheese jerky or something, y'know?