Danielle's Mac N Cheese

We wanted to make baked macaroni and cheese, but based on the reviews of Alton's baked mac & cheese (here and online), we decided to switch things up a bit. So we made a hybrid of AB's stove top and baked mac & cheese. We basically followed the stove top recipe, added ham, stuck it in a pan, and topped it with the panko crumbs.

Our hybrid version turned out great! It was delicious, and tasted just about as good the next day as leftovers (reheated in the oven) -- although the leftovers were a bit dry. Oh, one other change we made was that we used a mix of smoked cheddar and sharp cheddar. I loved the smokey flavor, especially with the ham.

Growing up, I never had baked macaroni and cheese. In fact, it's possible that the first time I ever had it was in the last year or so. So I'd never had mac & cheese with bread crumbs on top, but I love the crunchiness added to it! I'm a big fan of baked mac & cheese now. I think we will definitely make this again (the hybrid version) -- although not often for the sake of our arteries. :)

Melanie W.'s Macaroni and Cheese

First of all, I found the Good Eats cookbook at a local library and let me just say, Wow, the book is huge!! Browsing through it I find many of the tidbits helpful and interesting, but I wish it was organized better. You have to read so much to get everything! I also wish there was a table of contents with each episode name listed. The index is ok, but not thorough enough. This mac n cheese recipe wasn't listed under 'cheese' but only under 'macaroni.' And what's up with the "applications" and "software" business? I find that annoying as well. I'm glad I'm able to check this out from the library because it's resourceful, but I don't see myself buying the book, especially since I can get the recipes online.

Ok, on to my food! Like everyone else has said so far, this isn't the best mac n cheese recipe out there, even though Alton Brown says it is. Like his nephew (who's not really his nephew, he admits in the book) said in that video clip, I prefer the stuff from the box. At least over this recipe.

I didn't know how to best tweak it, so I just added more salt and pepper than it called for. I don't know how much salt I added, I just kept adding it til it tasted better, which means it probably had way more than I should admit. :) The book doesn't mention using a bay leaf but I noticed the online recipe does, so I added it halfway through. When eating this it didn't taste too bland, but the taste was just off. For me I think it was the onions. If I were to make this again I'd leave them out. Ham would have been really nice but I didn't have any on hand.

This recipe wasn't a complete waste because my super picky almost 2 year old ate some, I learned what it means to temper an egg, and I learned what Panko bread crumbs are (had never heard of them before). I also found it interesting that he says to rinse the pasta in cold water to stop the cooking....every other source I've learned from has said NOT to rinse pasta! I never knew why though, so I almost always do. Now it makes sense to rinse the pasta to stop the cooking, so rinsing I will continue to do!

Cami's Macaroni and Cheese

I LOVE a good macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately this isn't one of the best. I think it has potential though. The texture is perfect. I love the Japanese bread crumbs.

It needs more flavor. I added the full amount of salt after Jeannie suggested doing so, but it needs something else. I would start by adding more onion and maybe some meat. Ham? Bacon? Kielbasa sausage? I might also add garlic when cooking the onion.

I look forward to seeing what everyone else does with this. I'm going to buy some ham tomorrow to add to the leftovers. We'll see how it goes.