Macaroni and Cheese

I'm constantly on the quest for macaroni and cheese served in a restaurant that's as good as my mother's. I am most certainly biased. Bias works for me.

Macaroni and cheese would be the meal I request before being executed, but I'm sure the prison chef will mess it up like most restaurants do. Most restaurants make it with a blend of "exotic" cheeses like Fontina, Gruyere, Gorganzola, and the likes. They always top it with a bread crumb mixture. Very distracting. Some even use other pasta shapes. Sacrilege, sacrilege! Nope, this is not what I want.

I want a cheap sharp cheddar cheese — Cracker Barrel to be exact. There's no fancy bechamel sauce. The closest I've come to my mom's is mac & cheese at soul food restaurants, but these are always dripping in grease and leave your lips and face with a waxy, greasy sheen.

I'll let you know when I find the right one. I'll let you know about all the wrong ones, too. Sooo many wrong ones. Lament with me.

Macaroni and Cheese

• Boil enough elbow macaroni to fill a normal size casserole dish and do just that.
  
• Put 5 or so pats of butter in with the pasta.
  
• Put a tablespoon or two of flour in with the pasta.
  
• Throw a beaten egg or two in there for more stick-together-firmness, if you like.
  
• Cube Sharp Cheddar Cheese into the dish.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
  
• Mix all of this together.
  
• Fill the dish with milk until the milk pretty much covers the pasta - not completely covers, you want to still see the noodles.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and done.

Loosen up, people. My mom didn't measure and neither do I. It'll be ok. If not, try it again - but change something.