Macaroni and Cheese

Software

• 300g (10 ¹/₂ oz) of macaroni
• 300g (10 ¹/₂ oz) of high-quality cheddar cheese

Hardware

• 1 cheese grater
• 1 pot
• 1.5L (¹/₃gal) water
• 1 strainer
• 1 spoon

Infrastructure

• 1 burner

Instructions

1. 1. Using the cheese grater, grate the cheese and set it aside.
2. 2. Fill the pot with water and heat it on the burner until it boils.
3. 3. Add the macaroni to the boiling water; boil for about 10 minutes or until the desired tenderness is reached.
4. 4. Carefully drain the water using the strainer.
5. 5. Add the grated cheese, stirring very little at first but more vigorously as the cheese melts.

Output

You can expect ≈1kg of Macaroni and Cheese.

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Discussion

As there are only two ingredients in this recipe, they are very important to the flavor of the dish. While I have not noted a huge difference from brand to brand with regards to pasta, the type is important: it should be made with "white" or bleached flour. Whole wheat pastas, other than their obvious nutritonal pitfalls, simply don't work well with this application; the flavor is far too overpowering and doesn't pair well with the cheese.

The cheese is an even more important factor. While a number of different kinds of cheese give an edible output, I find that cheddar is the best. But the quality of the cheddar is paramont. Most brands will not do, especially if they are non-fat, low-fat, or mild cheddars; none of these are really cheddar anyways. And among the sharp cheddars, many have strange "chemical" off-flavors. I used to not like cheddar cheese at all because this is what I thought it was supposed to taste like. But, thankfully, there are sharp cheddars that have very good flavors and no dye: they will be white/cream in color, not yellow/orange, which is the result of dye, not the cheese itself. For this recipe, I almost always import cheese from a cooperative called Cabot, which is based in Vermont, USA.

Variations

• Try adding herbs and spices to modify the flavor.