Mac and cheese has been among the world’s favorite comfort foods for many years. Today, the dish is indispensable to American cuisine, with several mom-and-pop joints selling various iterations of the baked casserole. Let’s take a closer look at the origins of the noodle casserole, and concoct a gourmet recipe to boot.
The exact origins of macaroni pasta are unknown, with most historians believing that the noodle was invented by the Arabs as early as the eighth century. Somewhere down the line, the noodle found its way to Venice, Italy. It was here that the Italians improved the recipe and created the "maccheroni," a shape of pasta similar to the macaroni found in stores today. Maccheroni is considered to be the Italian equivalent of macaroni, and is sold by Barilla today under the same name. Maccheroni maintains the same tubular form, albeit much narrower and devoid of any ridges. It wasn't until 1838, on Swiss soil, that the pasta acquired its signature elbow shape. The pasta would take on this form in Switzerland's first pasta factory in Lucerne, established by brothers Kaspar and Balthasar Ronca. The first modern recipe for mac and cheese was penned by Elizabeth Raffald in her 1769 book, The Experienced English Housekeeper, using maccheroni, a mornay sauce made with cheddar, topped with parmesan, and baked until golden. Over ninety years later, the next advancement in the dish’s recipe was brought about by the addition of breadcrumbs to the crust. Isabella Beeton is credited with penning the first recipe that featured the same in her 1861 cookbook, Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Beeton's recipe called for Italian maccheroni, which she paired with either parmesan or cheshire cheese and topped with breadcrumbs before baking.
Another tale involving Thomas Jefferson, the third US president, predates Beeton’s cookbook by a good sixty years and credits him for popularizing the dish during one of his dinners.
This version of events, however, was later disproved, as Jefferson’s recipe did not contain any cheese but a sauce made using eggs, milk, and flour. The misconception stems from the fact that Jefferson was the first person to manufacture pasta in the US, via a machine his secretary procured for him at his request from Naples, where Jefferson was first acquainted with the noodle. Jefferson received the machine in 1793, making him one of the first, if not the first, person to produce pasta outside of Europe.
Fast forward to the 20th century, when Kraft Foods launched the first boxed mac and cheese in 1937. The cardboard boxes contained dried maccheroni and an orange processed cheese powder; the product was marketed as "a housewife’s best friend." Because it was one of the more affordable food products during the Great Depression, the dish quickly took off and became a best seller in both the United States and Canada.The Kraft brand continued to develop its recipe and concoct a range of products, most of which it continues to sell globally. Kraft still uses maccheroni pasta, in addition to the more popular elbow variant. Over the last two decades, the dish has won the hearts of people around the world, owing to its simplicity and great taste. Various households and restaurants have their own heirloom recipes for the dish, of varying levels of complexity and quality. Although most recipes for the casserole call for inexpensive ingredients and simple cooking techniques, many chefs, especially those specializing in southern cuisine, have made several iterations of the dish with premium ingredients and modern cooking techniques. We've listed one such recipe for you below.
Bacon mac and cheese with a graham cracker crust
● Take a large pot, melt about five tablespoons of butter with about three ounces of bacon on medium heat, and stir in a quarter cup of flour until well combined.
● Once the roux is fairly homogeneous, slowly start adding in whole milk until the desired consistency is reached; this might take you about two cups.
● Add in salt, nutmeg, and chopped parsley to taste, followed by an ounce each of onion powder, garlic powder, and dijon mustard. Once the seasoning is well blended, add in a pound each of cream and cheddar cheese, along with two ounces of fresh mozzarella. Stir until combined.
● In a separate pot, cook macaroni pasta until al dente. This will take about eight minutes. Strain the pasta right after and fold it into the sauce.
● Transfer the contents of the pot into a large casserole and top with a mixture of crumbled graham crackers, breadcrumbs, parmesan, and gruyere cheese.
● Broil the mixture in an oven for about twenty minutes. Pull the casserole out as soon as the crust takes on a uniform golden-brown shade and serve hot.
