From Days Gone By, Part 3

Mac & Cheese + A Note on Lighting

 

Part 1 here.

Parte dos aqui. 

How do you even begin to describe macaroni and cheese?  Not just the fact that it's just noodles and cheddar, but how it's managed to shape the childhood of basically everyone, including me.  Back before I became a snobby asshole about food, from-the-box mac and cheese was my go to request when the ever-pressing question of "What do you want for dinner?" came up. 

the kiddies

Back in the day my sister, brother, and I went through stages of mac and cheese making.  Of course, everyone had their first taste of it from Kraft's blue box.  Every Sunday Mom would break out the pot she always made mac and cheese in.  When we saw that pot go out we all knew what was being made and so the three of us instantly turned into dogs and ran around the stove, watching her first boil the macaroni, add the almost fluorescent powder, and finally the milk and butter.  To make it special she would sometimes add sliced up hot dogs, or would snip in some turkey.  

When we were finally old enough to be able to use the stove for basic things (like boiling water for instant ramen), I remember our world being turned upside down when we discovered Kraft "Deluxe" Mac and Cheese.  You boil and drain pasta, but now you take a squishy foil packet and squeeze as much of the gloopy, cheeze-whiz like sauce as you can into the pot.  To any sane person it was pure sodium overload, but for us, it was something magical.  We would sometimes follow the "recipes" on the back of the box, and would proudly present on Sunday night to our parents a dinner of mac and cheese with chicken and broccoli.  I remember our mom forbidding us to do so because of how much salt there was in this version, but on Saturday afternoons when she wasn't home we would secretly add some sliced hot dogs like she used to do to our Deluxe mac and cheese.

For years I've always wondered why my homemade mac and cheese turned grainy.  I stupidly just finally figured out the answer when I made this batch.  Besides not using a aged sharp cheddar, adding the cheese slowly, and doing so off the heat, it was as simple as thinking of, "Why do I always use skim milk?".  As I pulled the pan out of the oven to dismay I discovered that the outside edges had curdled, though the center was still nice and creamy.  So lesson of the day, when you make mac and cheese, don't use skim milk. 

 

awww yeah

A Note on Lighting

And now time for a food photo tip!  If you recall from the Belgian Waffle post, most of my food is shot and positioned so that a source of natural light is coming from one side and reflected onto the other.

However, I found that for this shot it didn't really work as well: the light was a bit too soft for my tastes and I had to use some heavy adjustments in curves/contrast so that you could actually make out that there's macaroni under that blanket of cheese sauce.

In the shot below, I rearranged everything so that the window was behind the food.  I also didn't use a diffuser (a.k.a. my dog and pony contraption of parchment paper framed by taped up styrofoam).  You can see now the lighting is a bit more harsher, and the scene a bit more dramatic somewhat.  The brighter highlights and the darker shadows make it easier to see the macaroni.

the carrots were mostly ignored

Macaroni and Cheese

loosely inspired by the Pioneer Woman

SERVES 6ish

1 pound of elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons of butter
a clove of garlic
3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
3 cups of whole milk, heated in a saucepan
a dash of dry mustard
a couple dashes of worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a smidgen of nutmeg
2 eggs
3/4-1 pound of grated cheddar cheese (I used medium)

Boil the pasta until al dente.  Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter and the garlic clove on medium high heat for a couple minutes until fragrant.  Discard the clove.  Add the flour to make a roux and cook for a couple of minutes to cook out the starchy taste.  Add the hot milk, mustard, worcesterchire, salt, pepper, cayenne, and nutmeg, and stir constantly until the sauce is thickened.

Take the pan off the heat and temper in the eggs.  Add in the cheese one handful at a time, stirring constantly and adding the next addition only after the previous one is fully melted.  Stir in the macaroni, and if you so desire, top with more cheese and chuck into a hot oven (350) until the top is crusty and bubbly.