Mac & Cheese: how to do it (really) good

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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,