So Mac N Cheese from scratch?

I've made this recipe a few times. It's easy and delicious! www.bakedbyrachel.com/three-cheese-skillet-bacon-mac-and-cheese/

I make mine with a béchamel sauce. I always bake in the oven and add extra cheese on top. Just remember to undercook your noodles or al dente if you will. I make double the sauce because we like ours creamy. I use a combo of Rachel Ray and Paula Deen recipes.

This has become my all-time favorite Mac and cheese recipe (probably because it's a zillion calories and fat grams.)

1 lb box macaroni noodles
18 oz evaporated milk
18 oz milk
1-1/2 sticks of butter
1-1/4 pound Cooper sharp American cheese

Put in crockpot on low for 2-3 hours.

So easy! It has to be the Cooper cheese because it stays creamy and doesn't get grainy. My arteries just hardened typing it out though.

My mom used longhorn cheese and some Velveeta. It is still my favorite. It is only noodles. Experiment.

I think it's the Cooper cheese. I couldn't get it once and use a different cheese with the rest of the recipe the same and it came out grainy. I also tried to edit my post but couldn't, I forgot to add that you grease the crockpot first, add the macaroni noodles and stir with about a tablespoon of oil, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Martha Stewart's mac and cheese 101 is my go to recipe.

I make it fairly regularly, but I don't think I make a "real" recipe. It is one of those things that I have been making for so long, I don't have it written down anywhere. I make mine starting with a roux-then add milk (I guess technically a bechamel sauce.) Then add a lot, lot, lot cheese until melted. Mix with elbows cooked for about six minutes and then bake. I do put cheese on top as well.

My bechamel sauce is fairly thin so that the whole thing doesn't dry out while baking.

If I had to write it down, it would probably end up being something like a stick of butter, a ladle of flour, five cups of milk or until the consistency is right, 16 oz of shredded cheese.

Here is my hint though, no matter what recipe you use, make sure you shred your own cheese. It is tempting to skip the pain in the ass process of shredding it yourself by buying the pre-shredded kind, but don't. The pre-shredded kind has, among other things, some kind of starch additive to keep the shreds from sticking together. When you are baking something like mac and cheese that starch can act as an additional thickening agent and it is hard to know exactly how it will effect your end product and can cause unaccounted for dryness. 

How are the noodles? Are they still firm?

I always see this recipe but haven't ever tried it because I can not abide soggy noddles and I just can't see cooking the noodles and then cooking them a further two to three hours and not having them turn into noodle-mush. 

My mom uses evaporated milk in her recipe and it is always really good too. Maybe I will give it try next time I make mac/cheese.

I use a whole brick of Velveeta in mine which may preclude it from being called "from scratch"!

I posted this on the thread about fooking better or worse than your mother in law.  I could seriously eat this every.single.day!

Here's the mac & cheese recipe we use. It is so good! My husband is the one who makes it, and I'm pretty sure he leaves the thyme out, and he uses more than 4 slices of bacon. I buy 3 blocks for Cracker Barrel Vermont white cheddar to use. (It's much cheaper if you get it at Walmart or Target than it is at the grocery store). I think we've used Tilamook once too. It gets baked in a glass 9x13 pan.







Ingredients







Kosher salt



1 pound elbow macaroni



4 cups milk



2 or 3 sprigs thyme



4 cloves garlic, smashed and divided



3 tablespoons unsalted butter



3 tablespoons all-purpose flour



5 1/2 cups shredded sharp white Cheddar



Freshly ground black pepper



1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley



4 slices bacon, cut crosswise into thin strips



1 large onion, diced



2 garlic cloves, smashed



Leaves from 1/4 bunch fresh thyme







Instructions







Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the macaroni and cook for 8 to 9 minutes, until al dente. Drain.



Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.



In a small saucepan heat the milk with the thyme sprigs and 2 garlic cloves.



Melt the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat.



Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, to keep lumps from forming.



Strain the solids out of the milk and whisk it into the butter and flour mixture. Continue to whisk vigorously, and cook until the mixture is nice and smooth.



Stir in the 4 cups of the cheese and continue to cook and stir to melt the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.



Add the cooked macaroni and the parsley and fold that all in to coat the macaroni with the cheese mixture.



Scrape into a 3-quart baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheese.



Bake for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.







While that bakes, heat a saute pan.



Add the bacon, render the fat and cook until crispy.



Add onion, garlic and thyme leaves and cook for about 5 minutes to soften the onion.



Season with salt and pepper.







To serve, scatter the bacon mixture over the mac and cheese

This is how I make mine...by sight

www.muellerspasta.com/recipes/baked-mac-and-cheese


My mom always made the one on the back of the Mueller's box. She used sharp cheddar and left out the mustard.  

She'd usually stretch it a bit by adding tuna or a combo of tuna and hard boiled egg. It was a cheap way to feed a big family on a small amount on money.

And it was yummy too