Macaroni & Cheese Ingredients

Series Summary

Boxed macaroni and cheese, or mac 'n' cheese as it is sometimes referred to in less formal circles, has long been a staple of the bachelor diet. While urban legend suggests it was Thomas Jefferson who first invented macaroni & cheese, its widespread popularity must be credited to those who appreciate the simplicity of a meal in a box. For many of us it was the first dish we learned how to cook. We went to college where we experimented with the recipe, substituting the milk with ranch dressing (perhaps out of necessity) or adding a dash of Tabasco sauce and Tony Chachere's, if for nothing more than just a flavor check. But as we get older, our culinary skills must improve. New ingredients must be added to the mix. New cooking methods must be explored. All species must evolve to survive, and boxed mac & cheese is not immune to this law of nature.

While the debate still rages between radicals and purists whether casserole variations can still be called "macaroni and cheese," experimenting with spam, hot dog slices and even tuna can have its own rewards. In this series of free cooking videos, Chef John King shares his recipe for baked macaroni & cheese in white sauce with a breadcrumb topping. He takes you through the cooking process step-by-step, from opening the box to freezing bulk amounts for weeks of enjoyment. Not only will you learn how to boil pasta, make the white cheese sauce, and bake the dish to perfection, you'll learn exactly when to add those extra ingredients like bacon, ham, bread crumbs and more cheese that will set your masterpiece apart from the simplistic noodlings of mere amateurs. Thomas Jefferson once said "I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing..." Be confident that he meant this to apply to the culinary world and prepare to cook "outside the box."

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is John King for expertvillage.com, chef here for Benson's Vinaigrettes in Lansing, Michigan and today we are going to be making macaroni and cheese for you. So first thing we want to do is take a box of macaroni and cheese. Nah, we really don't want to use a box of macaroni and cheese. We want to make homemade today so we are going to make everything from scratch and it is going to be an awesome dish for you. We are going to be talking a little bit about meas and plus which means having everything in its place. It's a French term. As a chef you have to make sure you have all of your ingredients to make the dish so we will go over real quick with the ingredients that we have here today. We have cheddar cheese, elbow macaroni, cheese sauce, ground mustard, white pepper, nutmeg, oil, salt, margarine and later on we will go over the different variations of how to macaroni and cheese and jazz it up a little bit. "