Anything, anything to stay away from the Kraft Cheesy Mac!

As Adam, the source, notes, “The idea here is that rather than making a fussy white sauce, something I never seemed to get the hang of, you make a custard for the cheese.  It’s fantastic and easy — not much harder than the box, and so much better.”

Ingredients:

½ lb. Macaroni
4 tbsp Butter

2 lg Eggs
12 oz. Evaporated Milk
¼ tsp Hot Pepper Sauce
1 tsp Mustard

3 cups Grated Cheese

Pepper
Salt

Instructions:

1. Boil up the Maraconi in salted water, definitely al dente.
2. Drain Macaroni, transfer to a large fryer, dutch oven, or large pan (if the original isn’t large enough).  Should be something with a thick bottom such that heat is distributed evenly.
3. Add Butter; leave it to melt in the hot macaroni.
4. Mix Eggs, 1 cup (8 oz) Evaporated Milk, Pepper Sauce, Mustard, Salt & Pepper (to taste) in a small boul.
5. Put Macaroni (and Butter) on medium heat.
6. Pour the Egg mix over the Macaroni along with 2 cups of the Cheese.  Stir constantly until the cheese starts to melt.
7. Gradually add in the rest of the Cheese and Evaporated Milk, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes more.  The whole mix will look overly liquid to begin with, but as the cheese melts and the egg cooks, it will thicken.

Serves:  4
Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredient notes:

1. The original recipe calls for half  Cheddar, half Monterey Jack.  Since we always have some Mexican Blend shredded in bags in the house, we use that.
2. You could go for more Macaroni; as is, the recipe has a high sauce-to-mac ratio.
3. The original recipe calls fo 2 tsp Mustard.  Consensus in our household is that’s too much.

Serving notes:

1. If you want to be fancy, you can take the individual servings, put them in a small ceramic dish, sprinkle bread crumbs or crumpled croutons, and put them under the broiler for a short bit.
2. The original writer suggests the recipe is not as good the second day, but it can be reheated on the range, slowly, with a little extra milk.

Source:  Adam Blust at “Words Mean Things,” who originally got it from Pam Anderson’s The Perfect Recipe.