In my many rides upon this world as it makes revolutions around the Sun, I have never yet prepared a meal of made-from-scratch mac ‘n cheese. Until today.
I love mac ‘n cheese. The pasta, the cheese. What’s not to love? There is a restaurant in town dedicated to this culinary wonder, serving up this marvelous treat as its main course. Yes, they have some of the other standards – burgers, wings, sandwiches – for those uncultured barbarians that don’t consume mac ‘n cheese, but I’d venture to say that those people aren’t worthy of chowing down on these heavenly morsels.
I bonded with one of my fellow co-workers at NASA over mac ‘n cheese. His wife made some for him and he brought it in his lunch. I happened to be going by as he was eating, we got on the subject of mac ‘n cheese and spent the rest of the lunch period discussing this culinary food of the Gods.
Pretty much any time I’ve made the stuff it has been from the blue box of a well-know food manufacturer. It is simple to make, and not totally inedible, and satisfies my cravings for the food. It’s not great but serviceable. I mean, cheese powder? Just doesn’t measure up to the yummy goodness of the real thing.
When it came time to make dinner tonight, we didn’t have lots of options for foodstuffs to prepare. But we did have pasta, and shredded cheese, and milk, and butter, and flour. The pasta is the easy part – a few minutes in boiling water and done.
The cheese sauce was another matter. Not difficult to make but it does require constant attention during preparation. Melt butter, add flour, and milk, lots of whisking, and finally cheese. All this goes over the pasta, which then gets put in two layers in the baking dish, with cheese on top of each layer. Top off the whole thing with bread crumbs, toss it in the oven, and soon you have the most perfect food after chocolate.
The wife has a different way of making it – cook pasta, put layer in baking dish, top with cheese, add enough milk to cover the layer, put second layer of pasta, top with cheese, and bake. Not any worse or better, just different.
How is it that I’ve never done this before? Now that I have mastered this culinary achievement, I can’t go back to the box shtuff. Oh, you boxed mac ‘n cheese, you blinded me with your convenience and ease of preparation. No more, foul temptress! I shun you. Mine eyes have been opened to the truth, and it has set me free!
We’ve got plenty of leftovers, and I’m sure this is going to be bad for my blood sugars, but for the next few days I get to eat one of the world’s most perfect foods. If it shortens my life, well, at least I’ve experienced something that makes life worth living.
The only way I can conceive of this being any better is to add crispy bacon crumbles on top before baking it. < Homer Simpson > Mmmmm, bacon. < / Homer Simpson > I’ll have to try that the next time I make it. Or …! I can make some bacon tomorrow and crumble the pieces on my leftovers before heating it up and eating. Genius!
With the weather getting colder I’ll have to keep this recipe in mind. Nothing like hot mac ‘n cheese on a cold winter day. Pair it up with pulling warm towels out of the dryer and Life Is Good.
What about you, my Hordeling? Got a favorite comfort food? Leave a comment and tell me about it.
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