Solitary, in fact

Just not in the prison cafeteria, that food qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment.

their "solitary" should be together, and in a special section of the kitchen so that they are constantly having to do the cook off until they realise they suck

Protip: The reason Velveeta and American cheeses melt so well is because sodium citrate is added to them. You can buy this yourself as a powder, and then add it to actually-good cheeses to give them the same properties.

You can also just melt nearly any cheese into a roux to make a mornay sauce if you are careful about it, which is the secret to both mac and cheese and queso sauce. Sodium citrate helps to keep it from breaking but is not strictly necessary in most cases.
Edit - yes, cheese and milk
- This sounds fancy, so to make it a bit less daunting:
  roux - flour and fat (typically butter), usually in equal amounts by weight
  béchamel sauce - roux + milk, often with nutmeg for flavoring
  mornay sauce - béchamel sauce with grated cheese
  When making the béchamel sauce, add the milk a very small amout at a time to prevent clumping, and mix well over medium heat between additions.
You've saved my life 😋

I am confused and afraid, the one on the left appears to have the scooping characteristics of ice cream

They cooked the noodles before they baked. Those noodles might have been al dente when they went into the oven. 45 minutes later, and they have the consistency of play dough.
- Damn, I was wondering where you got those numbers, but yeah, results speak for themselves.
likely cause by mac overcooked to hell and back and cheese is nothing but cheese that has all of it's moisture absorbed by the mac

My entry.

Mac, Cheese, Peas, and Bacon:

Prison.
- What's the charge?
This is perfect, you can easily scoop up just bacon and peas to eat and skip the rest
- Nooooo!
- As an American, why bother with the peas?
Electric chair.

And that's how you get out of having to cook something for Thanksgiving

That looks horrible. And why the fuck is any sane person preparing a cassetole in a throwaway baking dish?

1 - you don't have to worry about leaving a dish
2 - you don't have to clean it after a get together that is probably exhausting
3 - aluminum is one of the materials that is actually very recyclable, so it's not a big deal like plastic is.
- 75% of all aluminum ever mined is still in circulation- its also more efficient- recycling aluminum takes 5% of the energy it takes to produce it.
- Ya but how many people are cleaning and recycling them? They're going straight in the garbage.
Because you're going to a potluck and don't want to worry about getting your dish back?

WHY ARE THERE GREEN BEANS IN THE MAC AND CHEESE? T_T

also just make tini's mac and cheese; anything else is scandalous

I think that's just the bad color temperature of the lighting, giving the macaroni noodles a green hue.

Learn the basics of sauces from a French cooking book/course.

Make a blonde roux, for 4 pounds of cheese, add 1.5 cups of milk and 2 cups of half and half. Add in the shredded cheese saving about a pound to a pound and a half for layering. Add 4 tsp of sodium citrate. Voila you have a cheese sauce that won't break on you that pours into the pasta easily.

This is, of course, the proper way of doing things.
My practical version for everyday cooking/trying not to consume large amounts of cream looks like -
Bring a couple cups of milk (usually have 2% in the house) to a near simmer, then whisk in another cup of milk with a few fat spoonfuls of flour mixed into it (as a slurry.) Let it barely come to a boil for a few minutes, thickening the milk mixture, scraping the bottom and sides slowly the whole time. Once it coats the back of the spoon well turn the heat way down and add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder to taste. Turn the heat off and add an obscene amount of shredded cheese (usually whatever partially used bags and random slices that need to be used from the fridge.) Once melted, double check seasoning and add to fully cooked pasta for a stovetop version. For baked Mac and cheese, undercook the pasta a bit and save some shredded cheese for the top.
Boiling the mix after the cheese has been added increases the risk of the cheese splitting and getting oily. Adding a slice of American cheese provides enough sodium citrate to create the same smooth, saucy texture. Shredding your own cheese may also be best practice, but I've never had an issue with pre shredded cheese.
As a non-American, how much pasta goes with all that cheese? And how many serves do you get out of it?
- Generally I use 1 pound of dry pasta (I prefer shells to macaroni) per 2 pounds of cheese. Four pounds makes a casserole dish that is 12"×8"×4" or 12-16 servings
I'm no chef, so look up a book if you want proper instructions, but here's how tondo things:
Mix equal parts (by weight) flour and butter in a saucepan over medium heat - this is your roux, and it'll be a bit clumpy
Add milk, very slowly, and mix thoroughly after each addition, consider adding nutmeg - this is a béchamel sauce
Add grated cheese (and sodium citrate if desired and if your cheeses won't melt well), cut the heat, and mix until smooth - and this is a mornay sauce
Pour over pasta and enjoy!
It's not that hard and the result will be better than anything you get from the store or eat at your aunt's house.
I made a custard Mac and cheese last Thanksgiving and I liked it so much more than Roux style.
Can't find any pictures, unfortunately.
- Yea I used to use a roux, but honestly it's not much better than melting the cheese directly into heavy cream. If price was an issue a roux would be the cheaper option.
I make a really good macaroni cheese and have never had the sauce "break" despite not using sodium citrate. No cream either, just full-fat milk. And a good spoon of mustard, yum. Maybe it's the cheese? I use extra tasty cheddar.
God thank you I am so fucking frustrated by how much every fucking person in America has some idiotic combination of cheese and noodles and sometimes fucking eggs??! Which they combine and bake for an hour to make a terrible, dry, bland casserole which everyone insists is anything other than inedible slop like some weird collective delusion, when the real answer is literally just to do a thing from the first fucking week of French cooking lessons.

Right: American cheese on top. That's gotta be raw pasta underneath.

Left: "came away clean from the tray" in what I can only imagine is a congealed cheese+starch block.

These are terrible choices.

So I've never made mac and cheese because it's literally not a thing where I'm from. How would you make it and is there any way I can sneak some garlic in?
- This is a complex topic. People here are nostalgic for family recipes, box mixes, and restaurant varieties. There's no one single way to make this dish.
  The basic components are just pasta and cheese sauce. It doesn't need to be baked, but its done like that sometimes to make it easier to prepare, or caramelize the top a bit. Some add breadcrumbs to the top before baking, others add some mustard, paprika, or chili to the sauce. It's also not uncommon to see people add hot sauce after serving, since this is usually kind of bland (fatty and starchy) comfort food.
  The key is that everyone makes mac & cheese their own way. If you have a savory cheese sauce in the cuisine where you're from, you could probably just use something like that. But I recommend trying this the american way first, just so you know how you want to customize it.
  Simple: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/238691/simple-macaroni-and-cheese/
  Complex: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/old-fashioned-macaroni-and-cheese/#RecipeCard
  With garlic: https://www.justataste.com/roasted-garlic-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/
  I've never done it, but the garlic version looks great! I checked a few other variations and the consensus is to roast a head of garlic and mash it into the cheese sauce.
The only correct choice is not to play.

Les francophones, on est d'accord que leur mac and cheese bidule, c'est juste un gratin de pâtes ?

Avec du fromage qui mérite même pas ce nom : c'est plus des pâtes cuites dans une substance gluante jaune-blanche toute droit issue des merveilles de l'industrie pétrochimique.
- Ces deux-là n'ont pas l'air super mais un gratin béchamel-fromage peut être pas mal. D'après moi, ça ne mérite pas d'être un héritage familial mais ça mérite bien de saucer l'assiette.
Je n'ai jamais compris ce qu'ils veulent dire par mac d'ailleurs
- Je crois que c'est pour macaroni ce qui est un non sens puisqu'ils ont l'air d'utiliser différentes sortes de pâtes selon l'envie.

mac ✅

cheese ✅

i mean i don't see the problem

The cheese part is debatable.
- And the mac part doesn't seem to exist anymore, it's a solidified mass.

Mac And Plastic

Sodium citrate. It's not plastic, it just makes cheese look like plastic.

Mac & Jail

I make the most fattening mac&cheese, but it is delicious.

2T corn starch
2c half&half (or 1 cup milk, 1 cup whipping cream)
8oz cream cheese
8oz block of colby jack, grated
1lb elbow macaroni
Spices to taste (I use salt, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, paprika, oregano, and some nutritional yeast)

Boil the elbow macaroni until it's al dente. Whisk together the spices, corn starch and half&half, bring to a simmer. Melt the cream cheese into the sauce, then add in the grated cheese. Stir the noodles into the sauce.

If you undercook the noods a little, it holds up really well as meal prep for a week of lunches. My partner is chronically underweight, so it's nice to have some calorie dense meal prep options too.

I'm very scared of your two-tonne corn starch mac
- And you have to discover FTL travel for the half-and-half.
- (it's tablespoons, if anybody is genuinely confused)

I don't want to live in a world where this is real!

Cacio e pepe with macaroni as the pasta shape works fine. Not traditional, but far less heretical than this old repost's creations.

I put a shitton of onion carmelized in butter until dark brown in mine.

They should be forced to eat nothing but the others “Mac and cheese” for eternity.

Whoever gives up and buys the Costco Mac and Cheese instead wins.

This is why the gods gave us nuclear weapons

Do you want a mutant mac and cheese monster? Cause that's how you get mutant mac and cheese monsters.

It's not a bad recipe. The dude needs to learn to make a proper roux so that the cheese is sauce before baking. Also I would top it with breadcrumbs and bacon not just more cheese.
The Velveeta isn't needed at all, if you make a cheese sauce. Just add 1 tsp of sodium citrate per pound of cheese and that will make a cheese sauce that will barely break once refrigerated. I'm talking a few tsp of oil seeping out of like 4-5 pounds of cheese in the sauce.