Homemade mac and cheese - what cheeses?

I usually use Colby-Jack or a similar blend. My kids don't like mac and cheese to be "too cheesy," so we like the milder cheeses. So I tend not to use cheddar for that reason. It's also fussier to melt the cheddar into the white sauce.

I generally use plain old school cheddar, but sometimes if I don't have enough will supplement with whatever else is in the refrigerator (mozzarella whatever.)

But I also go old school when I make it:

Melt butter, add flour (equal butter flour-couple of tablespoons of each) to make a roux. Add milk incrementally-approximately double the amount of tablespoons of butter/floor in cups (ex: 2 tablespoons of milk/flour, 4 cups of milk, you can add more to achieve to the consistency you like.) Add cheese, I like a lot, so maybe 12-16 oz depending how much I am making. You may need to add more liquid at this point.

Add salt and pepper, some people add dry mustard. 

Precook noodles. I can not STAND mushy noodles, so I only precook mine for a very short period-like maybe five minutes. The noodles will cook more as you bake.

Mix noddles and sauce, plop in pan, cover top with more cheese and bake.

I don't have a written down recipe though. This was the way my grandmother made it.

We use two blocks of Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar. One white, one yellow. Good cheese makes a difference. DH's step-mom tried to copy my recipe once. She used Kraft in a bag. You can definitely tell.

I read an article a couple of years ago about the bagged cheese. It was fascinating...I didn't realize that in order to keep the shredded cheese from sticking, the coat it with cellulose and starches. That can impact dishes like mac and cheese because the starch acts as a thickener-that added to your thickener, can dry out your casseroles and whatnot.

I used to keep a package in the freezer for the last minute, ran out of cheese stuff, but no more. It makes a huge difference in both taste AND finished product.

Our favourite is Fontina.

I don't really have a recipe - start with a roux, add milk, add cheese, add sauce to boiled pasta, put extra cheese and maybe some bread crumbs on top, bake.

I make a white sauce and add sharp cheddar, cheeze whiz (yes, I know ....), mayo, a touch of worcestershire and sometimes a little bit of dry mustard.

My and DH's favorite is Gruyere cheese. If you haven't had it, it's a little similar in taste to swiss...so my DD doesn't like my mac & cheese.
Always grate it fresh from the block, like others said, the pre-shredded cheeses are coated to help with sticking.

I start with a roux and then add a mix of cheeses that I have, but mainly cheddar and Monterey jack.

I sauté a diced onion in butter and then add the flour, salt pepper and dry mustard to make the roux. Then add 1 1/2 cups whole milk and 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese. Put in buttered casserole dish.

I make my own bread crumbs with a couple slices of sourdough bread, butter and garlic. Put that on top before you bake it.

I'm another who starts with a roux, and then I just use whatever I have on hand. I always have some sharp cheddar (another vote for Cabot seriously sharp) and a hunk of Parmesan, so I start there, and then if I have other kinds of cheese, I add bits of those.

We've liked the results with some Gruyere, Swiss, or Smoked Gouda added in. Comte is good, too. 

This is a recipe I found a few years ago and it is seriously good. It's nice and creamy and not dried out. Don't be afraid of the 'weird' ingredients in it. My DH would never, ever eat cottage cheese or sour cream and he adores this mac and cheese. He has no idea what's in it. It' not lowfat or healthy in any way but it is good!

We love Martha Stewart's Macaroni and Cheese 101. It's from her first cookbook, but I got the recipe online. Trader Joe's now sells a gruyere/white cheddar blend that's absolutely perfect. I usually shred two blocks of it and only use 4 cups milk because 5-1/2 is way too much for one box of shells. In other words, I don't follow the recipe exactly. I don't measure the cheese, I've found that two blocks is perfect. Needless to say, this recipe isn't health food, but it's not made with any weird ingredients either.

www.marthastewart.com/271998/perfect-macaroni-and-cheese

i always use extra sharp cheddar in a block.
my mom makes it and uses 3 or four different cheeses-- sometime pepper jack to add a little spice