Place butter in warming pan, heat milk in microwave, add flour to butter and make and cook roux, whisk in milk…which step(s) take you over ten minutes?
1 Like
Enjoy your mac and cheese.
Seriously, if I am doing it wrong I welcome other approaches and do not mind if it takes longer.
1 Like
If you like your method it isnt wrong.
1 Like
What is yours?
1 Like
For boxed Mac & Cheese available in Canada, I like Kraft Dinner, the various Annie’s varieties, and President’s Choice. I usually get white cheddar varieties of PC.
Some Twitter friends tried the boxed Cheetos Mac & Cheese, the Blazing Hot and the regular, and didn’t like them.
I know some people like the frozen PC Mac & Cheese and the frozen Stouffer’s.
My favourite recipe is Martha’s Gourmet mac and cheese- any favorite cheese combinations?
I’ve tried some of these hacks in this Tweet and its replies, including truffle oil, parm regg, black pepper.
2 Likes
Gotta agree that a roux based bechamel with cheese doesn’t take that long (maybe 15 minutes). Do it while boiling your pasta and they’ll both be ready for each other at about the same time. Then add whatever else you want to them and bake for 10 minutes… Yum!
1 Like
A way to speed it a bit is to brown the butter partially before adding the flour. You get the same color and flavor as a lightly browned roux, but it is much faster because then you only need to cook away the raw flour note before adding milk. Also, I usually grate my own cheese, but the other night I had a bag of Tillamook rustic (wide) shredded cheddar, and it was quite good. I just wanted to learn how @Respectfully_Declined made it. My two hacks, microwaving the milk and partially browning the butter, are good restaurant hacks, even if that is not the way it is taught at Cordon Bleu.
1 Like
I always use cold milk. Warm roux, cold milk = no lumps. (c;
No lumps in mine. I incorporate the milk slowly at first.
2 Likes
Mac & Cheese isn’t something I have very often, but I’ve tried quite a few frozen and microwave mac & cheeses.
For frozen, my pick would be Devour White Cheddar with Smoked Bacon. There’s a Beecher’s mac & cheese I’ve been tempted to try, but I haven’t been able to get past the price of it.
Of the microwaveable bowls or cups that I’ve had, Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheddar has been the best of those.
1 Like
So you can bring a big pot of water to a boil, cook pasta for 10:00, grate 1.5 lbs of cheese, make a roux and then melt the cheese into it…in 10:00? You must be magic.
2 Likes
I can start the pot heating and have a drink. Once it is at a boil, I can toss the pasta into the salted water, make a Mornay while the pasta is cooking, drain the pasta, toss it in the sauce, and sprinkle more cheese and panko on top. I take the time for the pasta to cook to grate the cheese and make the sauce. I am very fast in a kitchen, a product of great training and half a century of practice and more learning, but when the dish goes into the preheated oven it is in proper shape.
I haven’t tried any of the brands in the article other than Kraft, but I can say that Kraft is the one and only brand of boxed mac & cheese I have ever enjoyed (my mother once tried buying Velveeta shells and cheese instead - my siblings and I mutinied). Kraft is one of the few holdovers from my childhood that I still enjoy from time to time. I love homemade mac and cheese too - I just think of them as different foods entirely, in much the same way that Chicago style deep dish and NY style may both be “pizza,” but they are not the same food at all.
When I make Kraft, I add more milk than the box calls for and throw in a handful of shredded cheddar to bump up the cheese flavor. Garnish with copious amounts of coarsely-ground black pepper and eat straight from the pot. 1 box=1 serving.
4 Likes
This is the secret ingredient to KC deep fried tacos 
3 Likes
I don’t think you can just skip over bringing the water to a boil. But fine, whatever.
Well at least that is a step for any approach that starts with uncooked pasta!
Yes. As is cleaning at least two pots and preheating the oven. I make mac and cheese every couple of months. I’m very good at it, and relatively fast. But there’s no way it can be prepared as fast as boxed.
1 Like
Back in the ancient times when my first wife & I were newly married & had little kids it was a big week when the grocery store had Kraft Mac & Chees 5/$1.00.
4 Likes
Even I can’t remember that!
