Macaroni and Cheese

If it ain't broke, you shouldn't try to fix it!

Last night I decided to try a new macaroni and cheese recipe. Here's the deal - I don't even like said dish but Martin loves it. I've used the same recipe for years with usually good results but decided to try a version out of the cookbook Cindy recently gave me. Pioneer Woman Cooks. 

It's a kind of labor intensive recipe in that you can't just put it on and leave the room. Instead, there's a whole lot of whisking going on, to keep the milk from scalding. Mixing that should've involved a flat whisk but, since I don't own one, I had to settle for lots of messy, inefficient whisking by way of my traditional rounded one. 

The whole time I'm stirring away, I dream of the perfect macaroni I'm going to create. Macaroni that will make my usually taciturn husband stand up and shout with glee at my cooking prowess. Macaroni that will absolutely shout out, "MADE WITH LOVE FOR MY BELOVED (REMNANT OF A) FAMILY!!!!!" 

I couldn't take a picture of the process because, in taking time to locate the camera, my sauce would've burned. Plus, for a brief time, I couldn't FIND the camera. Now that brought worry, big time. Did I leave it on the plane Saturday night? If so, could I call American Airlines and ask if they found a very expensive camera in seat 4C? Imagine my relief when, after serving the macaroni, I finally went on to locate the camera. 

As for the results of this macaroni - the sauce seemed very thick, in comparison to what I make. And very, very cheesy. I'm not sure of the reviews. Martin and Tim both ate all that was ladled on their plates (fairly large portions) and Martin even said something about how dinner was good. But, was it one of those formulaic expressions or did he truly mean what he said? A bigger test that this macaroni did NOT pass is the second-helping scenario. Of any food that I make, my macaroni never fails to bring hubby back for another heapin' helping after he's eaten the first. When he ate what I presented and then put his plate on the counter to signal being done, I took that as NOT a good sign. 

Of course, the silly part of all this is that I can't judge what I made since I don't eat macaroni. As I was putting the leftovers into a tupperware container, I did spoon out a biteful just to make sure that it tasted within the realms of edible. And that's pretty much my verdict. Eaten unwarmed, it seemed rather gloppy thick and TOO cheesy for me. And maybe for Martin?

One thing I did learn that can be transferred to my own recipe - the Pioneer Woman "tempers" her egg before adding it to the milk mixture, in order to keep it from cooking when exposed to the heat of the burner. This involves taking just a bit of the milk mixture and adding it to the mixed egg in a small bowl. After the milk and egg are thoroughly mixed and smooth, they can be added to the bigger pot of heating/whisking milk. Worked like a charm.