Drain pasta and return to pot over low heat. Add pasta and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Meanwhile, bring 2 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven. Season with salt to taste set aside.įor the macaroni and cheese: Mix eggs, 1 cup evaporated milk, mustard mixture, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, and hot sauce in bowl. Add bread crumbs and cook, stirring often, until beginning to brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Melt butter in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. You can skip the bread crumbs and sprinkle the dish with crumbled common crackers or saltines, if desired.įor the bread crumbs: Pulse bread in food processor to coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. For flavor, use cheddar for texture, buy American. Much like evaporated milk, the more processing, the more stable the cheese and the more creamy the dish. To our surprise, highly processed cheeses such as American performed quite well in this dish. We preferred the cheesier-flavored custard version and decided to experiment. It can also be topped with bread crumbs, although my mom always sprinkled crushed saltine crackers over hers. As the dish bakes, the eggs, milk and cheese set into a custard. In this style, a mixture of egg and milk is poured over layers of grated cheese and noodles. The other variety, the kind my mother always made, is custard-based. There are two distinct styles of macaroni and cheese: bechamel-based, in which macaroni is blanketed with a cheesy white sauce, usually topped with crumbs, and baked. Unfortunately, it's the boxed version, complete with orange cheese powder, that's made most often. Kids in particular say yes to macaroni and cheese when they turn up their noses at everything else. It's just eaten too often in this country for us to ignore it. Macaroni and cheese has always been on my "must-explore" list.