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Mac & Cheese is a classic of true Italian-American cuisine that you may have tried in the States (and you certainly didn't like it). Here's how to do it at home, well, dreaming of California
Anyone who has made a trip to the United States knows what we are talking about: mac & cheese is one of the most widespread "Italian-American" recipes, other than spaghetti meatballs ! This is often the case of a dish that has no counterpart in the Bel Paese, let's say it is a pasta with four cheeses. And so far there would be nothing wrong with it, as well as it is averagely disgusting and after the first spoonful is stored among the yankee junk that should never be reassessed. But it's a pity.

Because it's not good
Mac & cheese in the States is not good because they don't know how to cook it: they cook the pasta in a sort of béchamel, they are obviously overcooked, then they add cheese that tastes like cheese slices and finally, if all goes well, they put everything in the oven to cook au gratin. If it goes wrong, they open a box of powder and pasta and throw everything in the cold water, put it in the microwave and voila, dinner is served.

How to do it well
The advice is simple: just choose good products and cook without shortcuts and preparations. A pasta with cheese at the bottom is made of two simple ingredients, we must not skimp on their choice.

BROWSE THE GALLERY: 
THE TRICKS TO MAKE MAC & CHEESE WELL
A typically Italian-American recipe
Mac & cheese is a typical American recipe, born with the importation of the first products from Europe. Pasta is easily preserved and then shipped to the Americas, where, however, there were no fresh products such as those from the Mediterranean. So they began to season pasta with what was there, like a béchamel of milk and flour, a few pieces of cheese and some breadcrumbs to toast. The first known recipe is written in the book Boston Cooking School Cookbook of 1896. The dish became very popular, Thomas Jefferson offered it at all banquets and in 1937 Kraft realized the business, launching the first ready-to-serve preparation on the market make macaroni-and-cheese: a cardboard box with cheese powder, milk etc and pasta,

I love cheese, literally. And when they are absolute protagonists of a recipe, just like in this case, I really find it hard to resist! The macaroni cheese, you must know, is a dish with stars and stripes, whose origins are to be traced back to the old continent: the first testimonies, in fact, date back to some medieval French and English recipe books in which for the first time appear "casseroles of pasta and cheese ”.

But there is more: it seems, in fact, that the merit of the spread, indeed of the landing, of this dish in America is to be attributed even to  Thomas Jefferson. Yes, he himself, the president! He fell so much in love with this dish, after having tasted it in Paris, that he wanted to immediately bring it overseas: and how to blame him!

As you can see, the kitchen always reveals many surprising and extremely curious facts, in the end, why resist the macaroni cheese? For this I leave you my version, from my recipe book directly to your table!

Freshly baked macaroni cheese in a pan

PREPARATION: 40 min. COOKING:  1, 5 h. DIFFICULTY: easy  COST:  medium
MACARONI CHEESE: INGREDIENTS FOR 4/6 PEOPLE FOR AN 18 × 24 CM PAN
cellentani 400 g
breadcrumbs 30 g
butter 30 g

FOR THE CREAM OF CHEESES
butter 50 g
flour 00 50 g
whole fresh milk 1 l
yellow cheddar 250 g
white cheddar 250 g
salt up to taste
ground black pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese grated 100 g

MACCHERONI CHEESE: PROCEDURE
To prepare macaroni and cheese, start with the cream of cheese. Put a pan on the heat and melt the butter; sift the flour, add it and mix well with a hand whisk to obtain a golden cream. Now pour the milk, mix well and cook over low heat until you have a creamy and homogeneous mixture; finally, rule with pepper and salt to your liking. Cut all the cheeses into small pieces and add them to the pot; continue cooking for another 8 minutes or so, stirring constantly.

Meanwhile, boil the pasta in abundant salted water. I recommend however: leave the macaroni al dente, which means that you will have to stop cooking 2-3 minutes before the time shown on the package.

Get a rather large container and drain the pasta directly inside; pour a little oil and mix. Also add the cream cheese, then take the pan and cover both the base and the sides with the breadcrumbs, covering them evenly.

Transfer the pasta with the cream into the pan and spread the grated Parmesan on the surface. And now the cooking: bake in a preheated static oven at 180 ° for about 30-35 minutes. Finally, finish cooking for 15 minutes with the grill * mode. Once the necessary time has passed, turn out your macaroni cheese and ... enjoy your meal!

MAC AND CHEESE: NOTES
* By doing so, you will get a tasty golden crust on the surface

As an alternative to cheddar, you can also use other soft cheeses of your choice, such as Emmentaler or fontina: in short, let your imagination run wild!

If you want to give a further note of flavor, you can add a pinch of nutmeg to the cream of cheese.

MACARONI CHEESE: CONSERVATION
Once ready, I suggest you eat your macaroni cheese at the moment . If they move forward, you can keep them for up to 1-2 days in a closed refrigerator in an airtight container. I do not recommend freezing.

 What is the favorite dish of your childhood? For most Americans, it's Mac & Cheese. A kind of baked pasta topped with a rich cheddar cream. Beloved by everyone in the States, small and large, it represents a classic that is always present on American tables. It is said that President Tomas Jefferson imported this recipe from northern Italy as far back as 1793 ...

American comfort food

Today  ready-made Mac and Cheese Kraft  are widespread in America and everyone loves to dine with this dish, considered by all Americans the symbol of “comfort food” “ I want Mac & Cheese! "Is the sentence most pronounced by children in the USA ... nothing easier and more likely, fortunately!

 Mac and Cheese Kraft in Italy

The  ready-made version  is convenient, no doubt, but  why not  try cooking them at home, a homemade version ? Here are the steps to follow for a perfect American style Cheddar Mac & Cheese!

Ingredients for the Mac & Cheese recipe:
About 5 people

500g of short pasta (you can use the classic maccheroni or replace them with another type of pasta)
350 grams of grated Cheddar. If you can't find it you can replace it with Emmental, Gouda or Gruviera, etc ...
100 grams of butter
40 cl of unsweetened concentrated milk
1 tablespoon of mustard
2 tablespoons of flour
30 cl of milk
2 teaspoons of salt
200 grams of breadcrumbs
American Mac & Cheese

Preparation of Mac & Cheese
while boiling the water for the pasta, light the oven at 180 ° C
while you are cooking the pasta (drain it when it is still a little hard, it will continue to cook in the oven), in a large and high frying pan heat the butter over medium heat
add the flour and stir until it is all mixed together
add the concentrated milk and continue stirring
pour the mustard and salt and continue stirring for 5 minutes until the mixture is smooth and creamy
add about 75% of the grated cheese and stir
in a rectangular pan pour the pasta and mix it with the sauce (if you want you can add a bit of toasted bacon or sautéed mushrooms)
melt about 50 g of butter and add the breadcrumbs. Cover the pasta with this mix and finally with a layer of grated cheese
put in the oven for about 40 minutes until the surface becomes golden
Enjoy!

Macaroni and cheese recipe by  Flavia Imperatore 12-03-2014 [Updated on 08.28.2018]
 5 /5 VOTE
Macaroni and cheese, also called mac 'n' cheese is a traditional American dish, the recipe has always made me tempting and after revising an old episode of the TV series desperate housewifes, I wanted to try it again. The dish consists of a timbale of pasta topped with a bechamel sauce in which cheeses such as cheddar and parmesan are melted, everything is baked in order to create a creamy paste with a beautiful golden crust on the surface. Obviously, as often happens in these types of preparations, there are numerous recipes and variants I have taken inspiration from hereadjusting just a little the doses according to my taste and I got creamy and tasty macaroni with cheese, just like I expected! That's all for today, I feel a little better, so I'm going to make myself a nice coffee and get back to work, basins: *

Ingredients for 6 people:
300 grams of short pasta
50 grams of butter
40 grams of flour
500 ml of milk
100 ml of cooking cream
200 grams of cheddar
60 grams of pecorino cheese
 nutmeg
 salt
 pepper
Preparation timepreparation: 30 min
Cooking timecooking: 30 min
Total timetotal: 1 hour
Macaroni and cheese

METHOD
How to make macaroni and cheese
Start by preparing a béchamel, put the butter and flour in a saucepan
Macaroni and cheese 11

Cook stirring with a wooden spoon until creamy
Macaroni and cheese 22

Add the hot milk and stir.
Macaroni and cheese 33

Bring to a boil then turn off the heat and add the cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, pecorino and cheddar cheese.
Macaroni and cheese 44

Stir in vigorous mashed until a smooth cream is obtained.
Macaroni and cheese 55

Cook the pasta and drain it al dente
Drain the macaroni and place them in a bowl together with the cheese sauce
Macaroni and cheese 76

Stir well, then transfer everything to an oven dish
Macaroni and cheese 97

Bake the Macaroni and cheese at 200 ° and cook for about 20 minutes, until the surface of the pasta is golden, remove from the oven and serve your mac and cheese

Macaroni with cheese , better known as Mac & Cheese, are a first course whose origins are certainly to be found in Italy, but since Kraft in 1937 decided to make it a canned product its popularity exploded in America; from that moment on, there is no American child who has not grown up with this dish on the table. Essential for the success of this dish is making an excellent béchamel sauce .


Doses & Ingredients
DOSES FOR
4 people
Low
DIFFICULTY
PREPARATION
20 min
COOKING
46 min
Low
COST
AVAILABILITY FOOD
easy
MACCHERONCINI STRIPED 500 gr
GORGONZOLA 100 gr
SPICY PROVOLONE 300 gr
COOKED HAM 300 gr
Grated PARMIGIANO REGGIANO - 100 gr
BUTTER 20 gr
For the cheese béchamel
WHOLE MILK 1 l
BUTTER 50 gr
FLOUR 0 50 gr
ASIAGO 300 gr
Preparation
1
Prepare the béchamel: melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the flour.

Macaroni with cheese
2
Mix well and let the roux cook.

Add the lukewarm milk, little by little, continuing to stir to avoid the formation of lumps.

Macaroni with cheese
3
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Macaroni with cheese
Macaroni with cheese
4
Cook the béchamel over medium heat until it has thickened to the right point.

In the meantime bring a pot full of water to a boil, add salt and dip the maccheroncini.

Macaroni with cheese
5
Cook the pasta until half cooked, then drain and set aside.

Macaroni with cheese
6
Cut the asiago into cubes and add it to the béchamel, stirring to make it melt.

Macaroni with cheese
Macaroni with cheese
7
Put the pasta and béchamel together in a bowl and mix to mix.

Macaroni with cheese
8
Cut the ham into cubes and add it to the bowl.

Macaroni with cheese
9
Cut the spicy provolone into strips.

Macaroni with cheese
10
Butter two oven dishes and spread a little pasta on the bottom.

Macaroni with cheese
11
At this point, spread some provolone in each pan.

Macaroni with cheese
12
Cover with more pasta.

Macaroni with cheese
13
Distribute some gorgonzola flakes only in one of the two dishes (in this way you will satisfy all palates).

Macaroni with cheese
14
Add more spicy provolone and a final layer of pasta.

Macaroni with cheese
Macaroni with cheese
15
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and add some butter for a perfect browning.

Macaroni with cheese
Macaroni with cheese
16
Bake at 180 ° C for about 40 minutes or until the surface of the dough is well browned.

Macaroni with cheese
17
Serve the hot macaroni with cheese.

Author Info
Before the macaroni with cheese were placed in a metal box, or in a plastic bag to be heated in the microwave oven, they were contained and presented on the table in a delicious steaming oven dish, equipped with a crunchy and delicious grated cheese gratin. . Follow this recipe if you want to savor those old flavors that 'progress' has taken away from us.


Ingredients
Portions: 4

500 g of striped elbows
100 g of Butter
60 g of flour
1 l of milk
1/2 Teaspoon of mustard powder or 1 teaspoon of mustard (optional)
1 Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
300 g of seasoned cheddar cheese
Salt to taste
Breadcrumbs (optional)
Steps
Image titled Make Old Style Macaroni and Cheese Step 1
1
Heat the milk without boiling it, it will only have to be hot. You can use a stove or microwave.
Image titled Make Old Style Macaroni and Cheese Step 2
2
Grate the cheese roughly and set it aside. To make it faster, you can use a food processor with a disk to grate the vegetables but, if you love tradition, an old-style grater will be perfect. If you don't find the cheddar you can use the cheese, or the cheese mix, which you like best.
Image titled Make Old Style Macaroni and Cheese Step 3
3
Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil . Add the salt and pour the striped elbows into the pot. As soon as you start to cook the pasta, immediately start preparing the cheese sauce. The goal is to have the pasta cooked and the sauce ready at the same time.
Stir the pasta from time to time, especially after having just poured it into boiling water, to prevent it from sticking.
If you want to brown the striped elbows in the oven you will have to drain them when they are still slightly raw. They will finish cooking in the pan. Otherwise, when cooked au gratin, they will become too soft.
Image titled Make Old Style Macaroni and Cheese Step 4
4
Prepare the béchamel. Pour the butter into a saucepan and melt it over a medium-low heat. Mixing with a kitchen whisk, add the flour to the butter to create what is called roux. Bring the heat to a minimum and continue to stir the roux so that the flour can cook. Stir carefully, avoiding that the butter burns and that the flour becomes too colored. Pour the milk into the pan and mix with energy to mix the ingredients well and obtain a smooth and thick sauce. Season your béchamel with the mustard and cayenne pepper and let it thicken for a few minutes.
This is just a way of preparing cheese sauce. Try other recipes and choose the method that suits you best.
You can also prepare the bechamel in the microwave.
Image titled Make Old Style Macaroni and Cheese Step 5
5
Drain the pasta and shake it a little to remove as much water as possible. Some people prefer to rinse the pasta under water to remove part of the starch released during cooking.
Image titled Make Old Style Macaroni and Cheese Step 6
6
Remove the béchamel from the heat, add the cheese, mix with energy and, when it starts to melt, add the pasta. Stir gently to season all striped elbows. If you want you can add salt and pepper, according to your taste.
Image titled Make Old Style Macaroni and Cheese Step 7
7
Choose whether to serve the pasta directly or to brown it in the oven. If you want to serve the pasta with a nice crust, pour it into an oven dish, sprinkle it with more grated cheese and, if you want, even some breadcrumbs. Bake it for 15-20 minutes at 180-200 ° C.
The baked version is less creamy, but with a delicious cheese gratin.
You can season the breadcrumbs with butter, melting it in a saucepan and adding the breadcrumbs. If you want you can brown it in the oven for a few minutes.
For an excellent result, prepare breadcrumbs at home, using stale bread.
Image titled Make Old Style Macaroni and Cheese Step 8
8
Finished, enjoy your meal!

Tips
For this recipe you can also try other types of pasta, such as fusilli, ziti, penne or shells. The reason why striped elbows are the favorite for this recipe is that they are filled with sauce, marrying perfectly with this type of sauce.
You can use any cheese you like, but know that some types blend better than others, creating a smooth and thick sauce at the right point. Cheeses like Monterrey Jack, Fontina, Swiss, Cheddar and all the other semi-hard cheeses are great for this preparation, because they blend completely without spinning, like mozzarella does. Cheeses like gorgonzola or feta, on the other hand, do not blend equally well, but in small quantities they give an excellent flavor to your sauce.
If the dough is too thick, you can add milk or cream to make the sauce more liquid. But know that the taste will lose some of its intensity. If you notice that you have diluted the sauce too much, add some more cheese, you will correct both the taste and the consistency.
You can store the dough in the fridge in an airtight container and heat it in the microwave when you need it. The humidity of the sauce, however, will be absorbed by the pasta, and will not be as creamy as it was just made. Some cheeses, in fact, once heated, tend to expel fats, becoming very greasy. Try different types to find out which ones are right for you.
To give a boost to the flavor of your dish, try adding freshly ground black pepper to the cheese sauce.
For a slightly stronger taste, you can add sour cream or cream cheese to your sauce. A minimum quantity will be enough: a couple of tablespoons of sour cream or half a cube of cream cheese. Reduce the amount of milk a little to prevent the sauce from being too liquid, alternatively cook it longer, over low heat, to reduce it in a natural way.
Warnings
Always taste before adding salt to the sauce. Cheddar is very tasty. Remember that you will still have time to add, but that it will no longer be possible to remove.
Often check the cooking of pasta to avoid overcooking it. Drain it when it has reached the right degree of cooking, according to your taste, and, if you want to cook it au gratin, drain it a little in advance.
Is your sauce too salty? There is a remedy: prepare a new sauce, following the same quantities, without adding salt and mix together. You can keep the excess in the refrigerator or use it for other preparations, for example to flavor toast and popcorn or to stuff your hot dogs. If you prefer to season the minced meat for your burgers with sauce, you will get tasty cheesburgers without having to add the slice of cheese, or use it to accompany a side of asparagus.
To remove excess salt from sauces and soups, simply add an apple cut in half or quarters and let it soak for 10 minutes. It will absorb the salt and, when finished, it will be enough to throw it away. However, know that with dense sauces, such as cheese, the apple could absorb less than normal salt.
Things you will need
Big pot
Colander
Kitchen whisk
Cheese grater
Oven dish (optional)

How many times, watching a movie or a TV series, has your mouth been watering to observe the protagonists intent on enjoying a stringy and steaming plate of mac'n'cheese ?

Today we will learn how to turn this desire into reality, since this is a rather simple recipe to prepare and that requires very common basic ingredients!

But let's go in order: where did this cheese-based delicacy come from?


1 The origins of Macaroni and Cheese
2 The original American recipe for Macaroni and Cheese: ingredients and preparation
The origins of the Macaroni and Cheese
The history of this dish is lost in the folds of time. The first traces would seem to be decidedly European : in the 14th century , in fact, there already existed a French book ( Liber de Coquina , one of the oldest medieval cookbooks, preserved in the National Library of Paris) where we mentioned a recipe for pasta casseroles and cheese; a similar dish, called  makeroun , was reported, then, in another medieval cookbook, this time English, entitled The  forme of Cury .

The modern recipe, instead, appears for the first time, with lots of cheddar cheese among the ingredients, in the book The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald , dated 1770 .

At this point, however, the events suffer a bifurcation: in fact, we talk about US history and Canadian history.

In the first case, we must introduce the figure of the American president Thomas Jefferson : it is said that, together with his cook (and slave) James Hemings , he found himself in front of this delicious riot of Parisian flavors, so intense and tasty that it deserved that his recipe was brought home. Jefferson would even have drawn a sketch of this dish, accompanied by detailed notes, and would have taken everything to Monticello , his large plantation, set up after inheriting his father's lands.

In 1793 he tried to realize this desire of his palate by commissioning the purchase of a particular machine from the American ambassador in Paris, but it was a failure, so much so that the president, in the end, imported both macaroni and parmesan in Monticello. It had to wait a few more years: in 1802, Jefferson served on the table, at a state dinner, " a pie called macaroni ", receiving the criticisms of the Reverend Manasseh Cutler . Controversy that, as often happens, evidently did nothing but make the dish more popular, because since then the macaroni with cheese began to invade the USA.

Moreover, a recipe almost identical to the current one with macaroni, butter and cheese also appears in the recipe book of the American author Mary Randolph , dated 1824 ( The Virginia Housewife ), which gave the "La" to a global insertion of the culinary process in many others cookbooks of the era and even later.

Finally, industrialization certainly made the main ingredients easier to find, so that over time the dish became more accessible, but it did not for this reason lose its leading role in high-level dinners .

And Canadian history?

We know that the recipe was also brought to Canada by British immigrants and that it has been present in its social fabric, even in this case, for a very long time (an example is the Modern Pracery Cookery , from 1845). The procedure is somewhat more sought after with puff pastry, cream, egg yolks, nutmeg, mustard and a sprinkling of grated Parmesan (or Cheshire cheese or, again, Canadian cheddar).

There are many Americans who, entangled in the frenzy of everyday life, choose the pre - cooked variant of this dish: among the various proposals, the Kraft Triple Cheese is particularly tempting because it is enriched with 3 different cheeses and available in practical single-portion trays to be baked in the microwave and enjoy in 3 minutes!

But, if you want to bring the famous mac'n'cheese freshly prepared to the table, here is the original recipe!

The original American recipe for Macaroni and Cheese: ingredients and preparation
As we said earlier, this is a recipe that can be made easily and quickly.
Below, the ingredients for 3-4 people:

Cheddar cheese - 200 grams;
Short pasta - 300 grams;
Butter - 60 grams;
Flour 00 - 40 grams;
Milk - 800 ml;
Parmesan - 50 grams;
Nutmeg;
Salt;
Pepper;
Bread crumbs.
The preparation of Macaroni and Cheese is also very simple. Cheddar (the famous English cheese) is cut into very small pieces.

In a saucepan, then, mix butter and flour, cooking and stirring over a slow flame so that the mix becomes a homogeneous and creamy mixture. In the meantime, heat the milk to be added to bring it to a boil and add the chopped cheddar, grated Parmesan and spices (nutmeg, pepper and salt).

As you continue to stir, a creamy sauce will come out very similar to the béchamel sauce that will be used to season the pasta. The latter is cooked al dente and placed in a bowl, still steaming, to be mixed with the cream cheese just obtained.

At this point we proceed with the phase that makes this dish so greedy: we butter a baking dish, we dust it with breadcrumbs which, in this way, will adhere to the walls and we will pour the pasta mixed with the sauce, to cook it again, together with a new sprinkling of parmesan cheese in the oven. The ideal is to keep it, for about twenty minutes at 200 ° C . The surface will thus become a crispy crust , even in the base where the presence of breadcrumbs, toasted by the action of the oven, creates a particularly tasty "wrapper" in which to sink the fork to discover all the creaminess of the internal stringy cheese!

A real pleasure!