• orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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    4 days ago

    White dude here. Growing up, my mom always baked it like the left one. She would drop pieces of bread on top so it would toast up. It’s still the best mac and cheese I’ve had to this day and now I need to make it. RIP mom.

  • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    I make it my goal in life to defy the white people can’t cook stereotype. My wife’s family is the epitome of this, so I’m the designated chef for a lot of our family dinners. My Mac n Cheese is stupid good though.

    Freshly grated cheeses (sharp cheddar, gruyere/fontina, smoked gouda, parmigiano reggiano) and a bit of American for that sodium citrate emulsifying power, melted into a piping hot beschemel with Dijon, mustard powder, paprika, a pinch of thyme, and a hit of cayenne. Mix in some drained elbow or penne pasta, cooked to just al dente in well salted water, in a baking dish. Depending on my mood/desire for texture, either top with reserved cheese or some seasoned, buttered, well-crushed Ritz crackers. Bake until browned nicely.

    Been making Mac like this for a few years and it is regularly the favorite of the meal. Gotta use a variety of cheeses that give you strong cheesy flavor, creaminess, smokiness and nuttiness. The mustard is also important to cut the richness of the cheese.

    • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Who said that white people can’t cook?

      French and italian food is generally regarded as good.

      The stereotype is usually that the British can’t cook.

      • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        There’s a common stereotype that white Americans don’t use seasoning or cook from scratch. And that’s not exactly unfounded. I’ve known plenty that cook this way.

    • SpookyBogMonster@lemmy.ml
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      4 days ago

      I make it my goal in life to defy the white people can’t cook stereotype.

      The most delicious way to be a race traitor o7

      • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        If there’s a race war, I’mma be on the side with the seasoning. Gumbo, bbq, jerk chicken, greens… I’ll leave you guys the tuna casseroles and cobb salad.

    • ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Damn. I’m diabetic and on a low carb diet. I’ve been wanting to try and make a cauliflower version of Mac and cheese and your comment makes me want to try it even more.

      I miss carbs 😭

      • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        You’d need to replace the bechemel to eliminate the carbs in the flour. You can make a similar sauce with butter, cream cheese, heavy cream, chicken broth, and an egg yolk. It will taste a bit cheesier than typical beschemel, but that is hardly problem for mac n cheese. And the wheat pasta needs to be changed out, obviously. You could always get low carb pasta, or just replace the mac entirely. The sauce would go great on some steamed/roasted veggies too. Like broccoli or cauliflower, green beans, mushrooms, etc.

        • ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Thanks for the tips. How much flour is in there? Small amounts of carbs is ok, it’s unavoidable, really. I’ve had some decent low-carb pastas.

          • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            For the recipe I use, it calls for equal parts, 4 tbsp (1/4 cup), butter and flour and 2.5 cups milk. Which is 23-24 gram of carbs from the flour and 28-30 grams from the milk.

  • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
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    3 days ago

    I don’t know why I think this way, but the left image looks too hot to eat while the right image looks too cold for it to taste good.

  • pachrist@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Just so everyone here knows, these pictures do not need to be mutually exclusive. You can do both.

    • smh@slrpnk.net
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      4 days ago

      Same. I might be biased because my mom would get the frozen mac&cheese dinner and bake them, and the macaroni was always over done and grossly mushy. The cheese also tasted weirdly grainy.

        • smh@slrpnk.net
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          4 days ago

          That’s exactly how it is. If the first 10 times you have baked macaroni and cheese it’s awful, you’re not going to want to try it again.

          I also don’t like baked apples because I was violently ill after eating apple crumble once. Same with grape Smirnoff Ice.

  • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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    4 days ago

    Baked Mac and cheese is the only Mac and cheese. I miss my mom’s so fucking much it’s crazy. I can make it, but nobody made it like her.

  • KuroiKaze@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Every single time someone tells me they put their heart and soul into something like the left one full of ingredients that sound magic,I take a bite and it’s hella mid.

    Dickeys BBQ makes the best version of the one on the right of any chain I’ve been to. Dip waffle fries in it for majesty.

    • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 days ago

      You can absolutely make baked mac like the left and have it be amazing, but I’m with you that most people don’t make “proper home made” mac and cheese nearly as well as they think they do, even if the top looks ll delicious like in the pic. Coincidentally, the best mac and cheese I ever made looked like the right, but that was only because people were getting impatient so I decided to skip the baking part.

  • remon@ani.social
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    4 days ago

    Not sure what a Juneteenth is, but everything is better when gratinated.