Only if your taste buds are trash or you have a smokers palate. Besides, there is an art to this. Normally I cook the macaroni the day before to save time. Drain it. Rinse it. While it is still warm I melt cream cheese to coat it so none of it hardens, and once it cools a bit, I throw it in a ziplock bag and put it in the fridge until I'm ready to prepare it.
My bottom layer I normally use a white cheese like a shredded Italian blend. The middle layers I alternate with macaroni and what ever cheeses I'm mixing with the munster. The original recipe used cubes, but I normally use shredded cheeses for the most part. The cubes do allow for more distinctly identified flavors, but I found that if they didn't give the macaroni the cheese coverage I wanted, so I ended up coarsely chopping it up anyway. (Freeze for 30 min-1 hour any soft cheeses so they firm up and are easier to work with.) Then I beat one to two eggs, and mix it with milk, a lil pepper (use white pepper if you don't want to see specks in your food. This works well for mash potatoes also), sometimes a lil garlic powder and drizzle it evenly back and forth over the top, and then top it with a Mexican blend and a lil paprika for color. Cover with foil, bake at 400 for an hour or so. Too much of a cheese like sharp cheddar is over powering, imo. Too little is too bland. Velveeta is the devil. DO NOT USE IT. Smoked cheeses add a different flavor also. I don't normally use them.
The original recipe didn't call for it, but sometimes I add sour cream to the milk mixture, but normally I don't bother. It did call for adding a bit of salt to the milk mixture, but the cheeses are salty enough, so I omit that. I also normally use heavy cream instead of milk or 3/4 cream to about 1/4 milk. The foundation is the macaroni. It needs to have good flavor, meaning not too much or little salt in the water when you cook it, and you don't want to over cook them so that they become too soft and don't have enough body to hold up when they are baked.
I use these:
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It's a private label brand that Kroger sells. They are cute and the macaroni has ridges that helps it hold on to the cheese. The 16oz bag is enough for one regular sized pan when cooked.
I don't recall the original amounts of cheese suggested. I normally use what ever I need to alternate with the macaroni so everything has layers of cheese. From what I recall the recipe just called for the macaroni, various cubed cheeses, milk and eggs with salt and pepper. It didn't even have a layer of cheese on top or anything. Once you make something tho, you change it and make it your own.
Since we are on the subject of thanksgiving, this is the sweet potato recipe I use:
http://divascancook.com/southern-baked-candied-yams-recipe/ I add brown sugar tho. I grew up boiling the potatoes before cooking them, but I like her method better. I use more spices tho. I use her pumpkin bread recipe also. She has several mac n cheese recipes but I haven't gone through them before.
The recipe I used as a basis for the cheese sauce was from George Stella. I've used it for macaroni once or twice, it was nice and creamy but I liked the way I made mine better. The dijon adds a nice flavor and I used a bunch of different cheeses instead of just the sharp cheddar.
http://stellastyle.com/site/2012/10/30/original-cauliflower-mac-and-cheese-casserole/
Right now I'm on a quest to teach myself how to make yeast rolls so I can make clover rolls. That is supposed to be my project for today.
Your disagreement with my past posts is really Making me a little upset..... you don’t want to see me upset
19 cheese
