r/macandcheese

It doesn’t taste fully like chicken ramen, it taste more like chicken soup a little bit, it wasn’t bad.

I love the Reggano hamburger helper skillet kits as well. Quick cooking on the stove in 8 minutes before al dente. Plenty of liquid cheese for the amount of pasta. 8/10

The Boursin adds such a delicious flavor to it, and I used mild cheddar so the garlic and herb flavor in the boursin cheese would shine

My favorite boxed shells and cheese BY FAR. It's so cheap and nostalgic tasting. If you haven't tried it, please do.

i know if i change the recipe it’s no longer tini’s mac, but i still used most of the recipe and changed the mozzarella to gouda because i don’t like mozzarella in mac and cheese. we also changed some of the measurements of cheese (more cheddar etc) but everything else is mostly the same! it was SO good 😋

Added some Parmesan on top. It was good.

Smoked pork belly
W mac 🔊🔊

Happy "macaroni martes"! In week 1, our butter:flour:milk ratio was 1:1:5, which yielded a thick sauce. In week 2, our butter:flour:milk ratio was 1:1:8, but sauce consistency was skewed because it reduced and cooled too much in the initial tasting. Last week, our butter:flour:milk ratio was 1:1:10 which seemed to start soupy, and didn't feel as creamy.

This week, I gradually added milk until I reached a béchamel consistency that I like. Per Google, a good Béchamel consistency can coat the back of a spoon and stay parted if you draw a finger across it. I cooked my sauce on med-low heat for more control. I took pictures along the way, and noted the quantity of milk by weight.

Flavorwise, I stuck with 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 tsp each of black pepper and garlic powder. I pre-weighed my dry ingredients and preshredded my cheese ahead of time to hopefully cut down on time.

As you can see, there are a lot of intentional changes occuring week by week, which I will start documenting in "confounding factors". I love this project, but if I were to wait each week to make just a single change, I'd get bored and quit. Ultimately, this is just dinner.

The Method:

1. Make a roux with 2 Tbsp salted butter and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, cooked on low heat.

2. Incorporate 2% milk little by little, stirring continuously to make a béchamel sauce until satisfied. It ended up being nearly 3/4 cup of milk. Pictures attached.

3. Stir in 4oz by weight hand-grated mild cheddar to make a mornay sauce.

4. Season with 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, and 1tsp garlic powder.

5. Mix in cooked macaroni: 113g dry macaroni in boiled salted water, covered for 8 minutes, then fully drained. I reserved pasta water for leftovers, but didn't end up using it.

6. Enjoy.

Confounding factors

-Preweighed dry ingredients and pre-hand-shredded cheese will affect cook time

-Accidentally overpoured black pepper will affect flavor.

-Apparently freezing semi-hard cheeses could make them easier to grate, although I didn't notice that. This could affect consistency or flavor.

-The Creamette brand macaroni ran out, so now I'm using Aldi brand. They visually look the same, but this may affect pasta quality.

-Actually whisking the sauce instead of stirring with a silicon spoon hopefully will help with creaminess to reduce the grainy texture.

-Cooking the sauce on lower heat may affect consistency and flavor.

Objective Results

Total time to prepare: 21 minutes, 40 seconds, although I mucked around at first weighing my pots. This also makes me think that I underestimate the time it takes to do things... classic ADHD brain.

Yield in ounces by weight: 22.25 oz

Cost/yield using current American Aldi prices: $ $1.54

Nutrition/yield, using generic ingredients on MyFitnessPal:
1225 Cal. 113g carbs. 51g protein. 64g fat. 5g fiber. 13g sugar. 1563mg sodium. 195mg cholesterol

Subjective Results

Pasta quality: New pasta feels firmer? Maybe I'm reading into it too much. I do still have a bit of the old pasta- not enough for a full batch, so maybe I'll see if it's a noticeable difference.

Consistency/Creaminess: Soupy initially then thickened while cooling, making my second serving better.

Cheesiness: Cheesy. Bringing back the bit of salt helped.

Flavor: Peppery. Can tell I overpoured pepper because garlic isn't coming through.

Leftover factor: "I want seconds. Tempted to lick the bowl. Oh my god... seconds are even better- the noodles continued cooking, the sauce thickened... delightful. Fuck it, it's becoming lunch tomorrow."

My overall score:  8/10, 8.5/10 with bowl 2.

Boyfriend's overall score: Sorry, love! I can make it again tonight!

Field Notes

-Frozen cheese was terrible with my grater. I didn't chop it to fit at first, then I had to press so hard and these thin wisps would flake out, melt, and stick anywhere it landed.

-Cooking entertainment: Silence. Too busy measuring and taking pictures.

-Paired with: The rest of the milk. A long day. An early bedtime.

The Conclusion/Discussion

Overall, I am clearly a fan of the 1:1:6 ratio of butter:flour:milk, and I'll plan to use that going forward, while also using my judgment on consistency. I'm really surprised by how much more cooking the mac does in residual heat, so maybe I just need to let it sit about 15 minutes before eating. If I make it tonight, I'll save some pasta water for reheating leftovers.

A possible future week is adjusting the butter:flour ratio in the roux to experiment with the 1:1 ratio, but next week, because I have sharp cheddar, my goal is to see how sharp cheddar affects flavor. If I have enough energy, I may make a couple batches with different ratios of sharp to mild cheddar.

If you've read this far, thank you- these reports are wordy! Please note, I am not a professional researcher or chef, and I apologize to anyone who finds my lack of skill offensive. There will be some inherent inconsistencies in this project because I am using the ingredients I have on hand, in my kitchen, and cooking dinner after my meds wear off. I appreciate any constructive feedback and/or suggestions for the future, and I'm loving your kind comments as well. Thank you. :)

goddamn this is good as FUCK….

pasta shape is “chiocciole”. photo of recipe included. 10/10, no notes

Diced filet too