help me with my mac n' cheese

Isramom8 ↓

Wed, Feb 09 2011, 12:24 pm

I do this:
boil macaroni
melt butter in a pot
add bolied macaroni
add cheese, stir, allow to melt
add salt and papper
add milk to almost cover
boil till milk evaporates, stirring occasionally

ra_mom ↓

Wed, Feb 09 2011, 1:30 pm

imak wrote:

every time I try to make cheesy macaroni and cheese it comes out ichy - lumpy and not creamy. any no-fail recipes that I can try?

thanks!

I also dislike mac n cheese made with a roux.
If you'd like a simple, exact recipe, I can post the one from KBD kids in the kitchen.

Last edited by ra_mom on Thu, Feb 10 2011, 1:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

aidelmaidel

Wed, Feb 09 2011, 1:38 pm

1 box small shells
2 tablespoons butter/margarine
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk
1 8oz bag of shredded cheddar (the orange one)
1 8oz bag of shredded mozzarella
ketchup (I know I know but it really does make a difference in taste and appearance)
garlic powder to taste

boil pasta
drain but do not rinse pasta
melt butter in the pot you boiled the pasta
turn off flame, add pasta back into pot, and stir to coat pasta
add milk and stir again to coat
turn flame back on low
add half of each cheese and a squirt of ketchup and stir until melted
add the rest of the cheese and stir again until melted
add garlic powder if you want and stir again
let rest for a few minutes
then stir and serve again

to reheat just add more milk and reheat

Also yummy to put in a foil pan, top with bread crumbs and bake. Ours never makes it that far...

↑ Isramom8

Thu, Feb 10 2011, 12:58 pm

imak wrote:

Isramom8 I tried the recipe - but it came out more like scrambled eggs - maybe it's the gevina tzehuba that isn't melting well?

You mean it broke apart? Too little butter? Macaroni cooked too long and mushy before adding other ingredients?

Tamiri

Thu, Feb 10 2011, 1:49 pm

imak wrote:

every time I try to make cheesy macaroni and cheese it comes out ichy - lumpy and not creamy. any no-fail recipes that I can try?

thanks!

Are you making mac and cheese with a white sauce? If so, after melting the butter and adding the flour, S+P, you need to SLOWLY add the warmed milk to the pot, using a wire wisk. Do this until the sauce is thickened. Then add cheese.

If not, I would say perhaps your cheese isn't so good. Try Emek, also with the white sauce way.

↑ ra_mom ↓

Thu, Feb 10 2011, 1:51 pm

Mac ‘n Cheese (Kosher by Design Kids in the Kitchen)
• 2 cups macaroni, raw
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 slices American cheese
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 Tbsp butter

Cook pasta with salt until al dente.
Drain very well.
Heat American cheese, cheddar cheese, milk and butter over medium flame until creamy.
Add drained pasta and toss to coat.

yersp

Thu, Feb 10 2011, 3:17 pm

I actually just made the mac n cheese recipe from last weeks hamodia:

1 16oz pkg elbow macaroni
1lb hard cheese shredded. I used mozzarrella
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

cook and drain pasta. Spray a pan with oil spray and layer pasta and cheese layer by layer till you have none left. Whisk together heavy cream with spices and pour on top. Bake at 375 for one hour or until top is brownish.

I really like it!! Question is if my kiddoes will like it too.

SV ↓

Tue, Jul 26 2011, 1:34 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Mac ‘n Cheese (Kosher by Design Kids in the Kitchen)
• 2 cups macaroni, raw• 2 tsp salt
• 2 slices American cheese
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 Tbsp butter

Cook pasta with salt until al dente.
Drain very well.
Heat American cheese, cheddar cheese, milk and butter over medium flame until creamy.
Add drained pasta and toss to coat.

Do you know about how many cups of cooked macaroni that is? (I boiled some pasta this morning to make dinner preparations easier this afternoon since my kids all come home the same time I do and are usually hungry...)

mummiedearest ↓

Tue, Jul 26 2011, 1:55 pm

My grandmother's (really easy) recipe

pasta
milk
american cheese

cook pasta, drain. in separate pot, heat up milk. tear cheese slices into milk, stirring occasionally. add cheese until milk becomes a thick sauce. amount depends on taste. taste as you go along. pour sauce over pasta, serve.

I've never met a kid who didn't like this, and it ALWAYS comes out creamy. if you don't want to use two pots, you can pour the milk over the pasta in a pot and add cheese, stirring to melt. it's easier to put in too little cheese that way, so the first few times it's best to make a separate sauce until you know what consistency you're looking for.

↑ ra_mom ↓

Tue, Jul 26 2011, 2:10 pm

SV wrote:

ra_mom wrote:

About 4 cups cooked.

eraiser

Tue, Jul 26 2011, 9:43 pm

Boil macaroni in salted water, drain and keep it in the strainer.
in the same pot, melt abt 1 Tbsp of margarine or butter, pour in some milk (sorry - I don't have an exact recipe, just eyeball it)
add a few slices of American cheese and let it melt, stir and you'll see that it's creamy. You can leave it like this or continue on:
Add a big squirt of ketchup and stir that in. The sauce will have a nice pinky color. Add a few dashes of pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder and stir that all together. Then add the macaroni back to the pot and mix. Let the macaroni warm and stir occasionally and serve!
YUM!
I love mac and cheese!!
and only one pot to wash!!

↑ mummiedearest

Tue, Jul 26 2011, 11:17 pm

yaelinIN wrote:

American cheese has been processed to make it always melt creamily. When you use other cheeses, they may clump if the cheese isn't melted slowly with lots of milk and butter.

less likely to clump if it is not pre-shredded. shredded cheese contains anti-caking agents that cause clumping when melted.

american cheese used to be a regular cheese combination, not processed. I haven't seen it in years, but it was officially a cheddar-based cheese. you could try some brick cheddar, but it will probably still be stringy. I'm not a fan of processed foods, but I miss american cheese just for this.

BH Yom Yom ↓

Sun, Aug 02 2020, 3:19 pm

I know this is an old thread, but I’m having the same issue as the OP. Tried making macaroni and cheese in a pot and it came out super clumpy. Used cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese. Cheese melted but kept sticking to the spoon and not going around onto the pasta. Any advice? TIA!

Teomima ↓

Sun, Aug 02 2020, 3:39 pm

The most important thing is to not continue to heat the sauce after adding the cheese. Unless you're using processed cheese food, the sauce will clump up if you cook the cheese on the stove. Instead, make the sauce (most people make a roux then add milk, but personally I can't be bothered. I just mix milk and flour and whisk it together till the milk simmers. The flour will thicken the sauce, no butter needed), season to taste (salt and pepper of course, plus whatever else you like. Onion and garlic powder, and some mustard powder, are very nice), then turn the heat off and add all your cheese, stirring till it's melted. You need less than you think. And it's better to use a block that you grate yourself, rather than pre-shredded cheese, which is coated with starch to avoid clumping. Israeli yellow cheese slices are fine, too.

ETA: Hah just realized this was a revived old thread. Regarding the recent post, make a nice creamy sauce first, then add in the cooked noodles. If you add the plain cheese to the noodles then yeah, you'll get what you described: stringy cheese that sticks to the pot, spoon...anywhere but the noodles themselves.

↑ BH Yom Yom ↓

Sun, Aug 02 2020, 3:44 pm

Thank you so much! I actually added the cheese first to the butter/milk, stirred until it melted and looked like it was a thick sauce, so I added the noodles and then the cheese all clumped…