Post #158748 by Kukoae on Fri, May 13, 2005 5:31 PM

Ah yes, Macaroni and Cheese. I had times when this was a food staple more commonly consumed than I'd have liked.

I made it semi-tolerable by just going back to the basics of proper cooking:

1. Salt the boiling water - always respect your pasta, even if it's so humble.

2. Make sure the macaroni is al-dente (slightly firmer than usual because of the additional cooking in the "cheesing" step).

3. Never use margarine - it's still 100% fat, and tastes rank. I just do not understand the appeal of margarine at all.

4. Make sure the butter's melted and has well coated the macaroni, and use a heat diffuser under the saucepan to avoid hot-spots (I'm assuming if you're so cheap to be cooking "kraft dinner" you don't have good cookware)... stir gently, but frequently.

5. Pour about 1/3 of the milk into the saucepan and stir. Wait a moment for the temperature to rise. [I minimise heat loss by pre-measuring the milk as I put the water on the boil].

6. Crush the packet of powdered "cheese" until all of the lumps are gone, open the packet, and sprinkle the cheese into macaroni/butter/milk mixture, stirring frequently, avoiding clumps if possible.

It's like making corn starch thickening mixtures: you aim to "cut" the powder into a smallish bit of liquid and slowly add more so it makes an even consistency.

7. As the mix "dries" out, add a bit more milk, and stir, until the "cheese" and milk are used up. I hold back on the milk to "dial-in" the consistency.

8. If you're a wealthy enough student to have some crockware, put the mess into a dish and sprinkle with seasoned breadcrumbs, and put under the broiler for a few minutes.

Cheap additions: blanched frozen peas, slices of ham, drained tuna fish, etc.

I could never eat "Kraft Dinner" as an adult now, though... Making the real thing is just too easy, and so damned tasty.

Even for kids, as much as they "love" the Kraft Dinner stuff [colourful marketing I guess], they always like my from-scratch Macaroni and Cheese better, this despite my using more "adult" cheeses in it.

As for Ramen, I've done some pretty "fancy" implementations:

(a package of Thai seasoned ramen noodles is assumed here: with an included dry spice packet along with a spice-paste packet)

Prep: slice up some meat and desired vegetables (broccoli is nice), and boil the required quantity of water.

1. In a saucepan, saute bits of sliced pork with crushed garlic + ginger.

2. Into this pan, add fresh broccoli and any other "crunchy" vegetables you might like. Saute gently, and as the nice green colour intensifies, add the spice paste and turn down the heat a little. Coat the sauteed meat+veggies thoroughly - you'll get some wickedly nice chile/galangal/fish sauce aromas at this stage.

3. Turn up the flame to high, and add the boiling water (whatever the package on the noodles states), and give the noodles about 1-2 minutes tops, then up-end the lot into a nice big asian soup bowl, garnish with fresh lime juice and cilantro.

It's quite respectable, though fatty as hell. All of those ramen noodle packs are nasty: palm oils and mega-MSG/Salt. I think one of them blows your max daily sodium budget.

=Kukoae=