Mac and Cheese or the short form Mac n Cheese is a popular and well-known recipe from the USA. But does the Mac and Cheese recipe really come from the USA? We would like to get to the bottom of this question in this article. In addition to a short insight into history we present you a delicious, American Mac and Cheese recipe that you absolutely have to try. Finally, we have some more for you, interesting – albeit partly curious – facts compiled.
Where does Mac and Cheese come from – a look into the past
The origin of the Mac and Cheese dish lies – how could it be otherwise – in (Southern) Italy . In an Italian cookbook, the “Liber de Coquina” , which is one of the oldest cookbooks from the Middle Ages, is already in the 14th century There is talk of a pasta dish with cheese. The recipe, which is still on Latin was written, could therefore be considered birth hour of Mac and Cheese. According to the recipe, lasagna sheets made from fermented dough cut into squares of about 5 cm. These were boiled in water and then grated Parmesan baked.
According to legend, the then President Thomas Jefferson , after his stay in Italy, the classical, American macaroni and cheese in his luggage when he returned to Virginia. In addition, he acquired a pasta machine , which he also brought with him to the USA. After the death of Thomas Jefferson's wife, his daughter Mary Randolph appointed housekeeper. In 1824 she published the cookbook “The Virgina Housewife” , in which a recipe called "Macaroni and Cheese" Mary Randolph’s recipe consisted of three ingredients : macaroni, cheese and butter, all layered together and baked in a hot oven. According to historian Karen Hess, the cookbook was one of the most influential cookbooks of the 19th century. In many stories, Mary Randolph is still the invention of the recipe “Mac and Cheese” – although the origin of the American classic probably lies in southern Italy lay.
To this day, the dish “Mac and Cheese” as an integral part of everyday American cuisine and is a standard offering in many diners. There are now many different variations and recipes that have evolved over time regionally different have developed.
Mac and Cheese Recipe – American and delicious
The dish Mac and Cheese is one of the absolute favorite dishes of most Americans. We will show you how to make the macaroni in creamy cheese sauce easy to prepare and so a authentic piece of America can conjure up on your plate.
You can easily cook the American recipe for Mac and Cheese in four simple steps. For 6 people you need the following ingredients:
- 500 g pasta
- 75 g butter
- 75 g flour
- 700 ml milk
- 250 g cheddar
- 75 g Parmesan
- salt and pepper
Step #1 – Cooking the macaroni
Put the macaroni in boiling salt water and let them cook until they firm to the bite Then drain the pasta using a sieve. Now you can put the macaroni in a flat baking dish give.
Step #2 – Heat and sauté butter
After cooking the macaroni and placing it in the casserole dish, add 75 g butter in a saucepan and heat it until the butter fluid Now take the flour and stir it in low heat into the melted butter. Now sweat the flour by adding the butter and flour mixture Stir until the roux starts to bubble. This usually takes about two minutes .
Step #3 – Cheese Sauce for Mac and Cheese
When the roux is ready, you can remove the pot from the heat. Now add Carefully add the milk while stirring with a whisk Continue stirring the contents of the pot. When you have added all the milk to the pot and the sauce nice and creamy is, put the pot back on the stove and continue stirring until the Sauce thickens . Now you can temperature from the stove downshift – so that the sauce does not burn. Now add about two-thirds (in our case just under 170 g) of the Cheddar cheese into the sauce. Continue stirring until the cheese completely melted is.
Step #4 – Into the oven
In the fourth and final step, comes the Mac and Cheese Place the dish in the oven. You should preheat the oven to 200 °C (ideally in advance). Now add the cheese sauce over the macaroni (in the casserole dish). Season the cheese macaroni with a little salt and pepper and lift You still have the pasta Once well mixed with the cheese sauce. Before the Mac and Cheese find their way into the oven, sprinkle the cheese macaroni with the remaining cheddar cheese and 75 g Parmesan . The casserole dish is now ready for about 5 minutes in the oven. The Mac and Cheese is ready when the cheese on top golden brown and bubbles slightly.
We wish you a Bon appetit – enjoy the American Mac and Cheese!
6 Facts About Mac and Cheese You Definitely Don't Know
That such a popular dish in the USA has its own holiday – namely “National Mac and Cheese Day” on July 14th – probably doesn’t surprise you. But there are many other facts (some of them really very curious ) about the popular Mac and Cheese dish from the USA.
- Crayola (an American manufacturer of colored pencils and wax crayons) has had a crayon with the color "Macaroni and Cheese"
- In the USA, Mac and Cheese is 1st place among all cheese recipes
- Mac and Cheese has been on the list of ten most important "comfort foods"
- No joke – the recommended wine to Mac and Cheese Burgundy
- There are two restaurants in New York City (S'MAC and Supermac), the exclusively Mac and Cheese dishes on the menu – but there is also a gourmet version of the dish
- Marlena Spieler and the author duo Deanna Keahey and Steve Kilner have published two cookbooks that exclusively from Mac and Cheese recipes consist
