• dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Right: American cheese on top. That’s gotta be raw pasta underneath.

    Left: “came away clean from the tray” in what I can only imagine is a congealed cheese+starch block.

    These are terrible choices.

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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      6 hours ago

      So I’ve never made mac and cheese because it’s literally not a thing where I’m from. How would you make it and is there any way I can sneak some garlic in?

      • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        This is a complex topic. People here are nostalgic for family recipes, box mixes, and restaurant varieties. There’s no one single way to make this dish.

        The basic components are just pasta and cheese sauce. It doesn’t need to be baked, but its done like that sometimes to make it easier to prepare, or caramelize the top a bit. Some add breadcrumbs to the top before baking, others add some mustard, paprika, or chili to the sauce. It’s also not uncommon to see people add hot sauce after serving, since this is usually kind of bland (fatty and starchy) comfort food.

        The key is that everyone makes mac & cheese their own way. If you have a savory cheese sauce in the cuisine where you’re from, you could probably just use something like that. But I recommend trying this the american way first, just so you know how you want to customize it.

        Simple: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/238691/simple-macaroni-and-cheese/

        Complex: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/old-fashioned-macaroni-and-cheese/#RecipeCard

        With garlic: https://www.justataste.com/roasted-garlic-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/

        I’ve never done it, but the garlic version looks great! I checked a few other variations and the consensus is to roast a head of garlic and mash it into the cheese sauce.

        • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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          3 hours ago

          Oh wow, they’ve started adding Jump to Recipe buttons! Excellent!

          I think I’ll start out trying the simple one with cheddar first. We don’t have any particularly Estonian cheeses anyway, we only make other cultures cheeses hehe