Foreword

I have been exposed to a large amount of mac cheese living in the US, but most of what I am exposed to is the bleached arsehole rendition. Kraft mac and cheese is an abomination which appears to hold vaunted status with my American peers in what I can only assume is a pinnacle of Stockholm Syndrome.

Recipe

• 2 cups breadcrumbs (ideally from high end bread)
• several pinches of salt
• black pepper to taste
• 50 grams butter
• 50 grams flour
• 200 grams macaroni - cooked al dente (cooked at the lower threshold of the cooking instructions)
• 100-200 grams cheese(s); I last prepared this recipe with Irish cheddar and 3 hard cheeses. (half cheddar, half hard cheese)
• 500 ml milk

1. Make a rue with the butter, flour and gradual incorporation of the milk. Don’t fuck it up; it has to be silky and that requires continual stirring. ~15-20 minutes. Once the rue has all milk incorporated, flavour it with salt + black pepper and a subset of your cheese.
2. I tend to use Pyrex baking dishes; start layering; crumbs, cheese, rue, macaroni, cheese, rue, macaroni, …… , end in cheese, then breadcrumbs
3. Bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 30-40 minutes until suitably browned