• SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
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    2 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.

  • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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    2 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.

    • zerofk@lemmy.zip
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      19 hours ago

      Instead of bread try a layer of grated cheese, and put it under an overhead grill.

    • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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      19 hours ago

      Yes and my Mom would put fried breadcrumbs on top, I think there are these seasoned breadcrumbs from a box and you just fry em up. I really should look into it.

    • Aneb@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      My mom never cooked and my dad didn’t either. When I was growing up my oldest sister made Kraft from a box a lot, too bad it sucks nowadays. Kraft use to be so good.

  • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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    2 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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      23 hours 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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        23 hours 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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      2 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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        2 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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      2 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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        2 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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          2 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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            2 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.

  • pachrist@lemmy.world
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    2 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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      2 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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          2 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.

    • renrenPDX@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      It really depends on the recipe. The most basic is just regular mac and cheese with extra cheese on top and broil to color on top. Don’t want to overdo it.

      Some like having extras for toppings aside from cheese such as crackers, cheez-its, bread crumbs, or even hot cheetos.

      Often times the mac and cheese mixture is fortified to enhance creaminess or help prevent breaking the sauce from the heat. This can be in the form of additional cheese folded in (grated cheeses or cream cheese chunks folded in, or including some sodium citrate like american cheese, velveeta, or granules to smooth out the cheese. Some recipes even call for addition of eggs before baking. There is a risk of over baking which can lead to noodles soaking up too much sauce which can lose the saucy texture and become dry, or end up breaking the sauce and end with an oily mess.

    • white_nrdy@programming.dev
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      2 days ago

      Bake it in the oven

      Edit: also use real cheese, not Velveeta or something. Use a nice cheddar.

      This is a very good recipe https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/stovetop-mac-and-cheese

      After that, bake it in a casserole dish/dutch oven at like 400°F for ~20m (maybe more). Keep an eye on it, bake it until it is nice and brown on top. My spouse and I also do 8oz of each cheese instead of the asymmetric amounts. Put panko breadcrumbs and parm on top before baking it to get a nice crunch.

    • Destide@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      Disregard healthy add a good cheddar or similar cheese grill for about 5-7 mins.

        • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
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          19 hours ago

          Thats what broiling is? I assumed it was a method of boiling i was too uncheffy to understand. Also too lazy to look up.

          Even now.

        • Destide@feddit.uk
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          1 day ago

          Guess so bit of the oven that’s open with the element on top. Good for making cheese toasties

    • Wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 days ago

      I don’t know if this translates to mac n cheese but if you put things like frozen pizza in a convection oven/air fryer it comes out as if it was from a pizzeria.

  • Signtist@bookwyr.me
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    2 days ago

    The right one still looks plenty creamy. You could easily just bake it for a bit with some extra cheese and maybe some cracker crumbs on top, and it’d be just as good as the left.

  • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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    2 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.