Macaroni & Cheese from 1845
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- čas přidán 15. 05. 2024
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Los Angeles, CA 91364
RECIPE
Modern Cookery for Private Families: amzn.to/3NBH8ET
10 ounces (285g) White Cheese sliced thin.
1 3/4 cup (425 ml) Cream
4 tablespoons (55g) unsalted butter (plus 1 tbsp for boiling pasta)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon of Cayenne
¼ teaspoon of Mace
Dried breadcrumbs
1. Boil water with salt and 1 tablespoon butter. Add the pasta and cook 9 to 11 minutes or until done to your taste.
2. Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan and then add the butter and stir until melted. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Then stir in the salt, cayenne, and mace and simmer for several minutes.
3. Toast the breadcrumbs in a dry pan.
4. Once cooked, drain the pasta and put it in a pan or dish and pour the cheese sauce over the pasta making sure everything is coated. Cover with toasted breadcrumbs and serve hot.
**Some of the links and other products that appear on this video are from companies which Tasting History will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. Each purchase made from these links will help to support this channel with no additional cost to you. The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available.
Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose
PHOTO CREDITS
Mac & Cheese: Texasfoodgawker, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
Cheese Aging: Baynard, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
#tastinghistory #macandcheese #KD
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Mac&Cheese, thank you, a Canadian.
try macaroni and cheese with crunched up potato chips too, it's really good!
I don't drink. Thank you anyway for the offer. After my stepdad was killed by a driver high on alcohol I simply couldn't enjoy the drug anymore. 🌈
@@robertschnobert9090 "high" on alcohol? You a troll? lmao.
I had the pleasure of showing a friend from the states how we do kraft dinner up here. Apparently it's not eaten with ketchup there.
one thing i think most people across the globe and across histories can agree on is the fact that the combination of bread based carbs and dairy products is the most elite of elite food combos.
Most of the world is lactose intolerant so maybe not
Edit: I accidentally ingested something that I cannot digest and am suffering the painful consequences, hence the unsupportive comment. Macaroni cheese is a blessing on the earth
@@yippee8570 i've witnessed a large number of lactose intolerant people say YOLO and thoroughly enjoy dairy goods, damn the consequences 😅 but you're right that there are definitely limits
Hmmm Grilled Cheese Sandwich 🤤
@@yippee8570 source?
From an evolutionary standpoint it makes sense. Carbohydrates are high-calorie foods, dairy products tend to be high in fats, which are also high-calorie and sources of additional nutrients. It makes sense, therefore, that a dish that specializes in combining two high calorie food groups would be popular.
I love any recipe that includes “in the usual way.” Sometimes it is just boiling a thing, but sometimes they’re actually pretty complicated procedures like a hollandaise or soft poaching an egg or a making a custard. And the instructions are just “eh, you know.”
I get really anxious when directions aren't mega specific and all of these recipes tend to be like, put the ingredients into a vessel, then mix it until it is good and cook it until ready.
I think this is why replicating family recipes can be so hard. We got my mother-in-law to write down her chili recipe once, but no matter what we do we cannot replicate her results. I just *know* there's something she's doing that she takes for granted and didn't think was worth giving detailed notes on. My son is one of those people who is only comfortable cooking when everything is very spelled out, so I've started writing super detailed copies of all my special recipes so he's not left one day wondering how to reproduce the tastes of his childhood.
My Italian grandmother and her sisters and mom had a bad habit of writing down the ingredients for things and that’s it. No mixing instructions, no baking instructions, no tips. Nothing. Fortunately most of them are cookie recipes so I can generally figure it out. I just cream in the usual order and such. It’s just so frustrating when that’s all you have.
@@skyllalafey That's so sweet!
were they were made for chefs who knew how to do these things, not for ordinary people?
J.L. Kraft was a generous and honorable man. The story of how he saved a competitor, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, from bankruptcy is a video all in and of itself. And it was not something Pabst forgot when it was able to return the generous favor.
That sounds like an interesting story
I remember Kraft helping, but not how they returned the favor. I'll look that up.
So what you're saying here is to make kraft dinner with pabst. Got it.
@@alexandrac591 Sounds about right. In addition to the milk, or just serve the mac n' cheese with pabst?
@@johnathanstoker7145 no milk, just pabst
It's so wild that something as basic as Pasta was so alien to people back then that he assumed it was Onions.
It makes me wonder what that pasta looked like to give him the idea it was onions.
@@onlinejokesterjust stir fry up some onions once you’ve sliced them, the layers separate and turn into long strands that go translucent. I could totally see it.
I mean, even as late as the 50s pasta was enough of an unknown (at least in the UK) that the BBC managed to convince some viewers it literally grew on trees in an April Fools' broadcast
My dad never had pasta when he was growing up. That just wasn't a thing in the rural western U.S.
Laughed so hard at “can feed a family of four, or a Max of one” 😂 I do not understand how four people could eat one box as an entire meal! Lol
The intent is to cook a box of macaroni and separately cook a vegetable course like frozen peas and a meat course such as chicken nuggets, not to count just mac and cheese but itself as an entire meal.
@@RoninCatholic When that slogan was introduced during rationing there would not have been meat as well - this was the main.
Grew up on homemade. Box macaroni scares me
Yeah, I think it was either meant as a ration serving for four or as a side for four. I'm sure that they would have been able to eat the whole box by themselves if they could have afforded to then.
@@ywoulduchoosetousethis If you think it's scary on its own, you should know that the traditional Canadian way to eat "Kraft Dinner" is with ketchup.
The fact that the original Kraft ad managed to rhyme wheeze with breeze rather than cheese is delightfully unexpected 😂
I feel like there should have been two more verses, one with 'cheese'.
@@mindstalk and another with 'so try it now, if you please'
"don't hurry, puff and wheeze,
there's a main dish that's a breeze
thick and creamy and filled with cheese,
so try it now, if you please"
@@-jank-willson you're hired lol
If we wanmt a jingle maybe even 3 lines are enough
"Don't hurry, puff and wheeze,
there's a main dish that's a breeze
Kraft macaroni and cheese"
Just directly dropping the name to sell it
Macaroni and Cheese being described as gastronomy's power couple is just golden.
I believe you mean "golden brown".
That was probably a very bad joke, but I had to say it
Oh my gosh, I thought he said “astronomy’s power couple” and I could not wrap my head around whatever that could mean 😂
Please, PLEASE do an episode on James Hemmings. I'd love to see that. Enslaved people's contribution to American food history is so often overlooked, despite how important their part was.
Its weird to me how some people credit him with Macaroni and cheese when he clearly didn't create it though.
@@OriginOfSmallPoxisEgypt no one said he created it.
@Craig Dendy changed to what ?
@@swacman04 Actually many african american media outlets claim James Hemmings invented it.
@@OriginOfSmallPoxisEgypt Its revisionist history
A very popular dish in Switzerland is "Älplermagronen", translating to alpine macaroni. It includes not only pasta and cheese, but also potatoes, onions and lots of cream. One of my favorite dishes!
Please share your recipe!
Might be a good time to start a cooking channel. Show us some popular dishes from modern Europe.
Please tell me it uses cave aged Gruyere. Yum.
@@sarafinasummers7863 love this comment. Made me chuckle 🤣
Sounds good!
Hey Max, I was reading about the oldest natural/bog mummies that we know of, like Otzi the Iceman, the Tollund Man, and the Lindow Man. With each of their wiki articles it said that scientific examination was able to determine their last meals. Maybe an idea for a video? They are as follows:
Otzi: Fat and meat from Ibex and Red Deer (which may have been dried/smoked), and Einkorn wheat, along with herbs and some kind of dairy product.
Tollund Man: Porridge or gruel made from both wild and cultivated seeds. Over 40 kind of seeds were present, but the main ones were barley, flax, false flax, and knotgrass.
Lindow Man: Slightly charred bread made from cereal grains
Otzi's meal seems like It'd be the most interesting topic for a video.
Bog butter would also be an interesting ingredient.
I want to do Ötzi’s meal. Finding ibex will be the tough part.
@@TastingHistory goat maybe ?
@@TastingHistory Since the Ibex is a type of goat maybe you'll be able to cheat a little with regular goat meat? I'd imagine ibex would taste a bit gamier but otherwise rather the same.
Is cubone to much on the nose for that one?
In the immortal words of the Barenaked Ladies:
“If I had a million dollars
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinner
But we would eat Kraft dinner
Of course we would we'd just eat more!”
With expensive ketchup! Dijon ketchup!
I was absolutely singing this song in my head, as well. 😊
That's a great song
Southern mac and cheese is often baked with a full breadcrumb topping. I have a feeling you would definitely like it
Try adding diced ham!
I’m sure he’s had macaroni & cheese made that way.
southern mac and cheese is the best
And as a Yankee, I have found it on every menu in the south possible!!!
The Kraft company did a co-branding promotion with the inventor of the radio back in the old days.
Within a large block of processed cheese, you'd find a working radio set.
They called the promotion Marconi and Cheese.
😂
🤦
That’s brilliant 😂
😂😂😂
I love cheese and I love electronics, but I think I just died inside:)
The "particularly strong liquor" mentioned by Manassah Cutler might be a reference to the cheese sauce. "Liquor" in old English can also mean sauce, as in pie, mash, and liquor (which you can still order using those words in London today). Historically liquor more specifically describes the liquid in which the food is cooked, which makes perfect sense with mac and cheese.
I know I've seen that misunderstanding- "it had liquor in it? nasty! no wonder he didn't like it!" This meaning makes a lot more sense.
also liquor is the term used to refer to what comes out after you've steeped tea! i.e. a deep rusty red liquor
And pot liquor- The wondrous seasoned liquid from greens and ham hock
Speaking of ready made pasta I would love to see you do a video on the history of the real Chef Ettore Boiardi who is behind Chef Boyardee if you haven't yet. His story and what he achieved is really fascinating from what little I have read of it. I also wanted to say thank you so much for making such interesting videos. I get chronic migraines and I love watching your videos to cheer myself up when I'm stuck in bed, I especially appreciate Jose doing the subtitles!
Great suggestion
Sadly we have yet to see him do that.
American fast food!
So glad you give Townsends the love they deserve!
In switzerland, there is actually a dish very similar to mac and cheese called "Älplermagronen" (alpine herdsman Macaroni), which sometimes also has meat in it. It originated as a calorie dense meal that the alpine herdsman could make while in the mountains in summer with their herds, as dried maccaronis kept well and cream and cheese was both something they made themselves.
Edit: as someone suggested and I forgot for some reason: the recipe also contains potatos, another well preserving carb.
It is today regarded as a national dish, especially in rhe german speaking part.
I'm actually curious if mac and cheese has any (distant) ties to Fondue and maybe even Raclette.
Du hesch Hörnli mit Brösmeli und Öpfumues vergässe^^
It’s worth pointing out that the Swiss dish contains both macaroni and potatoes at about equal proportions (since you mention meat, I personally like to add some lardons or cubed ham, top it off with fried onions and serve it with the obligatory apple sauce). I wonder if adding potatoes was born in an effort to make the dish cheaper, because people would often grow potatoes in their garden, making them a commodity compared to presumably more expensive macaroni.
Man, you can't compare fresh cheese with that horrible processed goo they use in the US. Traditionally made alpine cheese can make anything taste good and most shepherds use whey instead of water for boiling the pasta (or any other cereal based meal), adding even more satisfying taste and favor.
@@baumgrt Huh, that's basically just a mix of Macaroni and Cheese and Au Gratin Potatoes (Or Scalloped Potatoes...not sure if there is a difference). Both very similar dishes, seems interesting having them together.
Max, I used to dislike history because it was all wars and specific dates to memorize. You have changed all that! Your focus on people’s lives (and food, of course) has made me re-evaluate the subject. Thank you!
I agree. Wars and stuff around it isn't very interesting. I've always been more interested in how the common man lived instead of hearing all about the wealthy and their coniving. How would it have been for me!
Culture is an important part left out of the class room.
@@telebubba5527 l agree. The lives of generals and the elite from history books are not utilized in everyday situations, in our work, and their lives were not relevant to our personal lives now, so we are given no reason to be interested in retaining irrelevant information when there are so many other things that were/are demanding our attention.
Educators have long tried to put it on us as our “inability to focus”, but that’s nonsense. That’s just part of where the education system has long failed in effective teaching.
We have to be active participants if we are to care about the things we learn, and I am glad that a lot of our education is modernizing to include hands on modules and other things that can engage us, like Max and his recipes + lectures. If something is being taught in the present, it has to be relevant to the present, too, and nothing is more relevant and timeless than food!
If you want history to read, pick up "At Home" by Bill Bryson. It's the history of homes (including some stuff about historical recipes).
@@Bacteriophagebs I should read that one. I liked his book A Walk in the Woods. And movie too.
Putting a feather in one's hat was a sign of a successful hunt. Not just a successful hunt, but getting the first kill in a hunting party. The idea was that you earned that feather. Yankee Doodle putting an feather in his hat was merely for fashion aka macaroni. The term macaroni also meant fashion. So Yankee Doodle was a drinking song saying that colonists were entitled, vain' and shallow. Putting an unearned feather in one's hat was considered shameful.
Haha that's hilarious
I knew about fashion being called macaroni at the time, but I didn't know about the hunting part, so thanks for the new info
Mac and cheese is my comfort food. It is almost always good and it’s really simple to make. I’m also autistic, so it really helps to have a semi-consistent menu item to fall back on when I’m with people who want to try some more experimental dishes. Basically anywhere that has pasta dishes can make a mac and cheese, which is great for someone with a sensitive palate like myself.
I would love to see a history of cornbread!
I admire cornbread's resilience. Beans kept knockin' cornbread outta sight, but cornbread was always ready tomorrow night.
Yes! I need to get that on the schedule.
@@TastingHistory schedule or menu🤣😂
Without doubt it has to be Central America, the origin of corn
Damn, that is a great idea. Impressive, most impressive.
"'Enough for a family of four,' or a Max of one" I FELT THAT
All pasta was once called "macaroni"? Thanks for that! I bet that'll help anyone out there looking for vintage pasta recipes. Thanks for such a thorough, history-packed video on this humble favorite!
Perhaps you didn't know this but in Napoli macaroni is still a general name for all pasta. The neapolitans use both words. In Brazil the common names for all pasta are "Macarrão" and "Massa" which also means dough. Some things never change! Thank you for your wonderful video! 😊👍
Russians also generally call pasta macaroni. Elbow, butterfly, spaghetti, all of it. Maybe not lasagna.
Pasta and cheese baked in a white sauce is a Medieval English dish, with also the closest thing to modern day lasagne made around the same time
interesting - in Swedish we call all the small shapes macaroni ("makaroner") while the bigger ones - spaghetti, lasagne etc - are just, pasta.
About 1969 or 1970, I found in the pantry at my great great grandfather's house a large rectangular tin of some manner of pasta. It was remarkable for being about twice as thick as any I have seen since. In shape is was like tagliatelle or maybe fettuccine. The pasta was in bricks, something like modern dried ramen noodles are often packed. I did not cook it for tasting as it was covered over with a fine black mildew, so probably was not safe to eat. In the same pantry was found a large tin of unroasted whole coffee beans that were sampled by my cousin, who likened the experience to be as bitter as his first divorce. :D
Quite the story!
9/10 should've cooked some pasta and tried it
That last line is like poetry.😂
Honestly, I can’t stop thinking about thanksgiving leftover pie! You should make that - it’s history. Your family’s food history.
Maybe I’ll stream my dad making it.
@@TastingHistory yes, please!!!!
I second this
My grandmother followed a similar recipe but also baked hers. I loved the toasted / slightly burnt "crust" the most.
@@TastingHistory Oh yes please!
It’s wild how you were able to compare a meal from the Titanic to this macaroni. Your kitchen is a Time Machine ⭐️
I wonder if iceberg lettuce 🥬 was served aboard titanic: ba dom!😂🤣
My kids loved the Kraft Mac and Cheese too much. So to supplement their nutrition, I beat an egg into the milk and stirred till done, then added the powdered cheese along with some finely grated cheddar. Great taste and a little extra dose of protein.
oooh I'll keep that in mind!
This was really informative! I’m Canadian so I grew up with Kraft Dinner as a staple but I had no idea its history. Growing up I always considered macaroni and cheese to be baked with bread crumbs on top like a casserole, whereas Kraft Dinner was not macaroni and cheese, but it’s own separate thing. I know that’s not really correct, but that’s what it was like in my house as a kid.
Sadly in Canada the cheese powder has been changed. So has the pasta. Not the taste I remember as a child and teenager, even as a woman in my 30's. I now buy the cheese powder at Bulk Barn. It is as close to the flavour I remember as you can get.
@@catslove3884 agreed, it's definitely not the same anymore! I'll have to try the bulk barn cheese powder!
We also called it kraft dinner, and "mac and cheese" or "macaroni and cheese" was the baked version with the cheese sauce.
One year for her birthday, my daughter requested "mac and cheese" (having recently been introduced to KD by her grandparents), so I went all out and made a super delicious 3 cheese baked mac and cheese. Poor kid was so confused and sad that I got her birthday meal wrong!! (I figured out awhile later that it was KD she wanted...)
@@monicalee82 enjoy! Actually I think that will be my supper.
Fellow Canuck here, and was in my 30s before I ever heard of the whole bread crumb thing on mac and cheese, we always ate it straight off the stove and I never knew anyone who bothered putting it in the oven to bake afterwards. And we always called the boxed stuff Kraft Dinner, even if it was the Italpasta brand whose cheese sauce I actually prefer.
For anyone confused why there's a Sneasel in today's video, it makes sense when you get to the History part of the video.
If you're still unsure: Sneasel has a long feather like ear, similar to that Macaroni mentioned in Yanky Doodle
Nice
Macaroni & Cheese from 1845 is probably still pretty good but I usually prefer mine a little fresher. I've got some Twinkies from the Mesozoic Era that are still good so why not!
Trying this recipe today, and I think you made a mistake, Max! The recipe you've researched calls for "three quarters of a pint of cream." That would be 1 1/2 cups, but you used 1 3/4 cups. You didn't mention this being a deliberate choice, so I'm going with the original amount from the historical source. I'll let you know how it comes out! (I should have a good metric for comparison, because my mother made it last week with your larger amount of cream.)
EDIT: Ok, so I made this last night, here's my report: Going down to 1 1/2 cups cream didn't make a huge difference (it was a little thicker), the bigger difference in the sauce is what kind of cheese you use. I used half gruyere and half cheddar, normally a good combo, but the cheddar I had was super aged, didn't melt as well and the flavor was way too intense. Make sure you don't use a hard aged cheese - for cheddar, I'd say 6 month would've been the way to go (I used 6 year cheddar, lol). Oh, and a bit more mace.
But here's the AWESOME part: My mother did the topping as Max did it here, butter toasted breadcrumbs sprinkled on top, no baking. And that was really good. But...I really wanted to bake it. So I came up with a plan that I hoped wouldn't break the sauce and leave you with that pasty clump that baked macaroni and cheese often turns into. I made the topping (1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs, 2 tbsp parmigiano, 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley, 1 clove minced garlic, 2 tbsp minced sun dried tomato). When the sauce and pasta was combined, I poured it into a cast iron pan, then put the topping on it. Then I popped it under the broiler for like a minute. Top got nice and brown, but sauce stayed creamy!
It depends on which country the original recipe comes from. The "Imperial system" -- the measurements used in Britain before the metric system came in -- has slightly different amounts which are called "pint" than what the Americans call a pint. The metric system was adopted by Canada in about 1971 (I'm Canadian) which was before I was born, but my grandmother used to talk about having to check whether the recipe came from Britain or the U.S. if it asked for a pint of any ingredient, and adjusting the amount she added accordingly.
@@gailcbull Oh, good point! I just double checked, and the Imperial system was adopted in the UK like 20 years before this book was published, so that's a real possibility!
@@gailcbull I was just about to comment the same thing. A pint in metric system is a tad bit larger than the American one.
Thank you for taking the time to share how you made the recipe!
@bananamilk2605 The Imperial pint is larger, true, at 20 Imperial liquid ounces per Imperial pint vs. 16 US liquid ounces per US pint - but an Imperial pint of ale comes closer to fitting in a 16-US-ounce glass than one expects, and the reason is that Imperial ounces are smaller in volume than are US ounces.
I make my mac and cheese this way because I don’t have the patience for white sauce. I thought I was cheating. Now I can back it up with history😂. Thanks, Max!
Heh. I cheat by grating cheese on hot pasta and pouring cream over it. This isn't really cheating. :D
I am actually not attempting mac and cheese when I do that (I'm Czech and "mac and cheese" is not a thing over here), it's just my student-style quick pasta dish, but this video and you made me realise it's pretty much still the same concept.
That's not cheating. Cheating is using a can of Cream of X soup as a quick and dirty white sauce.
I just use Kraft Singles, or known as American Cheese Slices. They have tons of that emulsifying salt you need. Two slices, third cup milk, half cup of the cheese you like, knob of butter in a COLD saucepan. Heat until melted and mixed, it looks like it isn't going to work until it magically does smooth out. The cheese slices have enough salts that it binds the fats of cheese to the water in milk to make a sauce. If it's too thin, add some more cheese, but srsly it does thicken when it isn't hot. Add bacon if you got it.
Fun thing is that the elements used in the salts for cheese slices and nacho cheese sauce literally does spell out "NaCHO" (Na3C6H5O7)
There's a recipe I like that uses evaporated milk in lieu of cream-- a little lighter. There's some powdered mustard and cayenne in it, and it's just the thing with an assertive cheddar. And yes, less time consuming and fussy than a proper white sauce.
I gotta admit, as someone who's moved to Italy I kind of miss mac and cheese at times, so I've resorted to making my own every once in a while. EVEN introduced a few local friends to the concept; despite their initial skepticism, they loved it!
And speaking of, considering I had a chunk of cheddar and some shredded hard cheese with a carton of milk, I felt like making that for dinner today and here you are! It's settled. 😁
Expat in Italy here, yeah I miss the classic Mac and Cheese but I've found and made some substitutions with local cheeses, still...🤔
Try pasta ai quattro formaggi it's quite common here in Italy
@@vittoriodimeglio8564 Man, after watching the video that Adam Ragusea put out using citric acid, I started experimenting with different blends- Provolone, caciocavallo, grana, Parmigiano Reggiano, Asiago, and so on- But I have to keep to the roots and go with good ol' cheddar. I dunno, it just has a special place in my heart 😂
Mac and cheese is easy to make from scratch.
@@ThePieMaster219 I don't know where you are but here on Ischia the cheddar is a very plain insipid cheese, serviceable but not inspiring. In fact we're planning a trip to England where I hope to get some great cheddar.
Macaroni is now going to be my favorite example of sharing cultures and how important it is not to gatekeep stuff
Dude, you're always so positive and upbeat. Your videos are a balm to soothe my calloused soul
I nominate Max to do a dramatic reading of Ode to the Mammoth Cheese!
There are several. My personal favourite is the Ode the to Lanark Cheese
We have seen the Queen of cheese,
Laying quietly at your ease,
Gently fanned by evening breeze --
Thy fair form no flies dare seize.
All gaily dressed soon you'll go
To the great Provincial Show,
To be admired by many a beau
In the city of Toronto.
Cows numerous as a swarm of bees --
Or as the leaves upon the trees --
It did require to make thee please,
And stand unrivalled Queen of Cheese.
May you not receive a scar as
We have heard that Mr. Harris
Intends to send you off as far as
The great World's show at Paris.
Of the youth -- beware of these --
For some of them might rudely squeeze
And bite your cheek; then songs or glees
We could not sing o' Queen of Cheese.
We'rt thou suspended from baloon,
You'd cast a shade, even at noon;
Folks would think it was the moon
About to fall and crush them soon.
James McIntyre
My grandmother made the best Mac & cheese, she'd use all the leftovers bits of cheese she had, and instead of bread crumbs she top it with more shredded cheese, so it would form a crispy cheesy crust when baked. Served it with cherry jello jigglers and angle food cake. It was a perfect kid meal. She passed when I was 7, and left no recipe. Only once in my life have I gotten the cheese blend just right when trying to recreate it. I think the key was using rather "aged" Colby from the back of the fridge.
That’s what I found to be the way to recreate my grandmother’s delicious recipes: proper leftovers. They HAVE to have reached that use-up-now stage and/or be a rag-tag mix of things.
My mother's Mac 'n Cheese recipe is actually done in a casserole dish, with the breadcrumb topping being the main attraction. I don't know the recipe line-by-line, but the general steps include using blocks of cheese, cut into cubes and then roughly chopped up in a food processor with the milk and other flavorings, then the whole thing, pasta and all, is baked in the oven with very generous top layer of breadcrumbs. Always a hit. I definitely need to get the recipe from her for my own use one of these days.
My mother has always made her Mac and Cheese in the same way in a casserole dish with a layer of breadcrumbs on top and it really adds a nice flavor and texture to it. Sometimes she serves it with a side dish of stewed tomatoes that go really well on the mac and cheese too.
@@raiiban That sounds like it would taste amazing together.
" Or a Max of one." You made me snort! I can't tell you how many times I've downed a whole box, by myself!
I grew up in brooklyn in the 70s. On our block, there were three or four Italian American families whose younger members were first generation American citizens. My mother, who was from Puerto Rico, became a fabulous Italian cook because she learned from all of the older Italian women who were from Italy. All of those lovely, old women (some of whom didn't speak English. They'd speak Italian to my mother, and she'd reply in Spanish, and they understood one another.) always referred to any pasta as "macaroni."
I realized this too when I visited Italy for the first time years ago. I took Spanish in school and found out that the 2 languages are so similar they're almost more like different dialects than independent languages. The word choice is definitely different but knowing one language you can definitely get the gist of the other.
James Hemmings and his family definitely deserve more attention. I'm glad you'll be taking the time to really talk about them in the future.
he must have been a brother of Sally...
@@elenauffa5201 he was Sally's older brother. Both were half sibling of Jefferson's wife.
Imagine being comfortable not just assaulting but /owning/ your sister-in-law. Yikes.
So once James Hemmings had been to France he was a free man, since France abolished slavery in 1794 and anyone that came to the country as a slave was no longer one, as soon as they stepped into the country! I hope Jefferson acknowledged that but my fear is that he didn't.
James Hemings wasn’t set free until much later. Jackson believed that because he had spent all the time and money sending Hemings to France to study cuisine, he should still get his money’s worth. James was told he could gain his freedom if he trained a replacement. If I remember correctly, he needed up training his younger brother as his replacement and eventually did secure his freedom.
The Monticello estate has some good resources on the Hemings, you might be able to find more info on their site. There are a lot more racially conscious historians working at Revolutionary Era historical sites, thankfully!
I've heard a few old-timey Italian-Americans call spaghetti "macaroni." I prefer my mom's mac and cheese from the '60s-'70s. It was similar to scalloped potatoes, with layers of macaroni, cheddar and butter. Whole milk was poured into the casserole dish about 1/2 way up, topped with Ritz cracker crumbs. Kids would fight over the browned, crunchy edges on top. I haven't made it in many years!
Yes. My grandparents, who were Italian immigrants, referred to all dried pasta as macaroni. They called the fresh (egg) version pasta, or lasagne, presumably because my grandmother's machine produced a wide ribbon, which she cut into "patches" before boiling.
When camping with Scouts in the late '70s we would cook blue box Kraft (with the powdered cheese packet) and serve it with diced hot dogs mixed in. The little bits of campfire ash that fell into the food while cooking were called 'swimmies'.
I love that Max is highlighting Townsends here - both brilliant channels. I try and hop in on the live streams from time to time but it's normally a bit tricky from the UK. Sending love for all the amazing history from both channels. Thank you, Max!
I found Max's channel from Townsends. Fells like the History channel I never had
Yeah I feel like Townsend is the original og of historical recipes
I believe that "A la Reine" is a category of dishes made with a cream sauce. I remember from my childhood that one of my aunts used to make a dish she called "pollo a la reina", chicken a la reine, which was chicken sauteed with mushrooms and a delicious cream sauce.
funny, my mom made Turkey A La King which sounds similar!
my mom makes something similar, its such a winning combination
"reine" is French for queen, "roi" is king.
@@cerealport2726 yeah it always amused me that my French-Canadian born mother called it "a la king" instead of "a la roi", I'm guessing it wasn't her French mother's recipe!!
We always made baked Mac & Cheese and my grandma started a family tradition of putting crumbled potato chips on the top….yum!!
My mom added canned tuna and veggies to mac and cheese when I was a kid. It's easy and quick, and tastes surprisingly good. One of the odd things I've done to spruce up boxed mac and cheese was crushing cheeze-its and using them as a topping like the bread crumbs.
Petition for a video on the historical period of Max’s childhood and the dish is his dad’s thanksgiving leftover pie
100%! That sounds amazing
Yeah! Don't just drop a casual comment about enjoying wine with the dish! You have my attention (I'm sure you can connect this to a history topic of some kind!)
I have made something like a shepherd's or cottage pie, but with Thanksgiving leftovers...a layer of stuffing on the bottom, then turkey, gravy, and vegetables, topped with a layer of mashed potatoes. You can find recipes online for various versions of it. I have also seen recipes that use two crusts, with the leftovers inside, similar to a chicken pot pie. Perhaps something like that?
My wife's family uses a recipe that's not too far off from this one, aside from no mace and some baking in the oven at the end. It's so interesting to see how some things do or don't change throughout the years!
I've tried this twice,
Ritz crackers works even better than the breadcrumbs (at least the crumbs I used the first time)
The mace, cayenne, and dairy really do go well together, the second time I also did the tiniest pinch of allspice too and it went well with them, without throwing off the late hit subtlety or overpowering them.
The first time I also did sharp cheddar, but the second I did my favorite go-to fondue blend of gouda, gruyere, and mimolette, went great with the subtle spices.
It was fricken amazing, though you could dip a tire in that stuff and it'd be outstanding.
I love mimolette. 🧡
I never heard of mimolette, sounds yummy!
The macaroni I grew up with was milk , salt , butter , Velveeta and elbow macaroni made in a big pot on top of the stove . So simple , so cheesy and so GOOD . 💝 Also in the 80's I got a bunch of the government cheese , they were giving it out to anyone just to get rid of it , and it was really good ! Mac & cheese , cheese soup , broccoli cheese soup , potato cheese soup , cauliflower cheese soup , bean and cheese tacos , grilled cheese sandwich , potato egg cheese tacos , any kind of tacos , on crackers , cheese mayo and tomato cold sandwich ... I got about 30lbs. of that cheese and used it for a lot of things and loved the taste of it . I really miss that cheese . Wish they'd bring it back . 🥺
Oh my gosh I just watched a video about the history of the government cheese situation-never heard of it before the other day! I was wondering if it was any good! 😂
@@lux1472It was fantastic. My grandmother saved it up for her macaroni and cheese at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Max doing the Accents will never get old. Also, the Vintage Radio Voice was spot on. 😂
10:03 Yes, shoutout to Chef James Hemings! It's nice to see the people who actually did all the work for the Founding Fathers take back some of the credit.
Especially when enslaved chefs like Hercules Posey and James Hemings literally defined American cuisine for a century (if not longer). I got so frustrated when I learned that many if not all of the recipes popularly credited to Martha Washington that I grew up making were actually created by Hercules.
I want to see a movie about chefs like Posey and Hemings. For two reasons.
One, their story needs to be told.
And two, because watching _those people_ on the Internet freak out about "woke" American history is always fun in a "taste truth, neckbeards" kind of way.
Thank you for this comment.
Fascinating. Love the historical elements woven in. (Also, I would bake that dish in the oven until the top was crispy.)
Ah.. I love when food goes from for the elite to the common person, or the other way around! The history of food is a history of human culture, no matter which specific culture that may mean. One thing we all share is the need to eat. And it's awesome how little the recipe has actually changed - it just works.
Max, can you make an episode about how your father makes his Thanksgiving pie from leftovers? I think it would be a great tribute to him
Yes, I would love to have that recipe! Please do a video on that for Thanksgiving 2023.
7:18 if I understand medieval Italian, this is the method for making and cooking the pasta. Since there obviously weren't any pasta making machines, it says to start by making pieces slightly larger than lasagna, then to wrap them around a stick. The stick is then removed and the pasta (presumably now in tube form) is cut wide. It is then cooked in a fat broth, but if you cook it in water, then you must add fresh butter and a little salt.
Weirdly, pasta extrusion machines go back IIRC to the 1500s or so. (can't recall exactly) Being a pasta fan, I looked into this once.
KD - the unofficial dinner in Canada. We have an equivalent in the Kingdom of Norway called Pizza Grandiosa, popularly "Grandis". Developed in the 80s (and it shows). Bland, carboardy and salty, but sometimes (especially when feeling rough the day after) it hits home so well and hard.
You're so good at speaking! I wish I had that skill. No tangents; clear and concise with good delivery... I know it doesn't have anything to do with the contents of the video but it's something I've noticed and appreciate about you 😂 you do such a good job with these videos.
Protip if you want to up your breadcrumb game and not have to babysit it as much: use Italian breadcrumbs for seasoning and throw some butter in the pan first before adding the breadcrumbs as that will serve as a stabilizer and help the breadcrumbs to toast evenly.
I always have my Tuesday lunch with your videos, and today, entirely by chance, I had prepared homemade mac and cheese. The universe smiled :)
I watch about half a video while I eat a small snack during the tiny 10 minute gap I have between my classes on Tuesday, then I watch the second half when I finally get to eat an actual meal somewhere between 3:00 and 4:30. (Thursdays are even worse. I still have the 10 minute snack gap thankfully, but I don't have time to eat an actual meal until about 6:00, and I have to get up at 8:15, so I'm basically running on fumes all day...)
I made my "Mama Bear Hates macaroni cheese" recipe last week with the children. It involves chorizo, smoked bacon and hard boiled eggs. It tastes wonderful. If my young children clean their plates you know you have a winner.
Eventually I realized that nobody else pronounces it "max 'n' cheese"... Thanks dad! I love the implication that it contains multiple mac-s. As if otherwise you could expect to get just one huge noodle.
I’m currently eating a pot of not even blue box fancy Mac because I feel like crap and needed comfort. Great timing!
Safeway store brand box-mac goes well with "after the rent gets paid and before my next paycheck hits the bank" time every month.
@@SimuLord facts 💯
I also feel like crap too so here I am. Cheers 🥂
@@SimuLord I'm in this comment and I don't like it.
Annie’s wins Mac and cheese from a box
Thanks Max. I'm going to celebrate Mac & Cheese history by going a little nuts with the breadcrumbs... As is tradition.
Do it! Breadcrumbs on everything!
@@TastingHistory Breadcrumbs for all!
@@TastingHistory That's why I save all the dregs from the salad croutons in addition to crushing the good ones. They make excellent crunchy flavored topping for macaroni & cheese.
As is tradition.
I do it with yoghurt instead of cream. Love the sour taste.
I make mac and cheese these days with onions and peppers (green/red/jalapeno/Serrano). The onions and peppers provide color and flavor and just a bit of heat.
Max, if you really like breadcrumbs now, try "Choux Fleur a la Polonaise", steamed cauliflower topped with breadcrumbs sauteed golden in lots of butter. I loved it in my youth. Serve with boiled potatoes, a sausage (kielbasa, maybe) or German bratwurst. Easy, quick, and satisfying.
"A la Polonaise" is a preparation method (breadcrumbs sauteed in butter) as my small collection of historic cookbooks suggests.
I don't know if Max will make it but I will it sounds delicious. A light(?) side is always appreciated.
Are the boiled potatoes commonly or traditionally unseasoned? Or do you add a little salt? Usually, I only boil potatoes if I'm about to make some mashed potatoes or mix it in for a recipe that has lots of seasonings.
@@toBe8ere Boiled potatoes are a staple when I grew up, actually there were two kinds of boiled potatoes: Boiled peeled, or boiled with the jackets on. In the above case you'd use the boiled peeled potatoes. They are great with meat dishes, too and lots of sauce. Make the mash on your plate to your liking.
You should boil peeled potatoes in salted water, use starchy potatoes. After they're done, pour off the boiling liquid and put the pot back on the stove (heat source turned off), let them steam a little, then put the lid back on and shake vigorously, making them fluffy on the outside. Of course you will also add nutmeg and salt to the breadcrumbs
My wife and I love this channel so much and we've been telling everyone about it now for a while whenever food topics come up in conversations. Those that have told us they went and checked out the channel said they binge watch them because they're so good. Keep up the amazing work and thank you for making such an interesting channel.
Wow, great show as usual. I remember in the winter of 1974, in Cook Minnesota (100 miles from Canada) after a day XC skiing with our 6 and 4 year olds we would open up a couple of boxes of Kraft Dinner and just loved it. My kids still remember it as well. I've got to get a box! Oh, and of course try your 19th century recipe. Merry Christmas.
It's so great to see something good come from the last two years. Insightful, entertaining, and informative. Also appetizing.
When I do baked macaroni and cheese, I top it with Panko bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. So much yum.
So let me get this straight - the dish that I have always considered to be quintessentially American was created practically everywhere BUT the USA? 😂 This is pure gold! Thanks, Max. This is amazing.
Funnily enough this is true of the majority of quintessentially American foods. The hamburger was originally created in Hamburg Germany, the French Fry was invented in Belgium, the hotdog was originally created in Austria by an immigrant there from Frankfurt (which is why they're sometimes called Frankfurters), Pizza was obviously the Italians, Apple Pie from England, Doughnuts from Germany, and Barbecue from the Caribbean natives. That being said, Potato Chips, Fried Chicken, Hashbrowns, Grilled Cheese, Corn on the Cob and Peanut butter are all our inventions, so it's not all bad.
@@TheRedKing247 Yeah, but while most of those dishes are so obviously brought into the States and then adapted, I have never heard of mac and cheese being made in any other country. I mean, we do eat pasta with cheese, sure, but I don't think there's any other country where this dish has the same status as it does in the US, at least not to my knowledge. I honestly thought that people outside of the US make it cause they've seen it in the movies/TV and wanted to give it a go.
Also, peanut butter inventors should be made saints. 🤭
@@Edidin Ah fair enough. I myself was really surprised to find it was mainly the efforts of the actual founding fathers that were the ones that mainly introduced the US to it. I would have figured it might have come from Italian immigrants who are infamous for their cheese pasta and that mac was like a dish specific to those immigrants but no.
And for real about that peanut butter bit. I can't believe we're one of the only nations that really eats it.
@@Edidin There are quite a few pasta-with-cheese dishes out there, and the origins of macaroni and cheese were far less well defined in terms of specifics of the pasta and cheese to be used, so I think the specific variation of macaroni and cheese that uses small straight or elbow hollow pasta with any cheddar-like cheese is more or less specific to the US & Canada.
And on that note, as the video says, I can confirm that mac & cheese and specifically KD is a really common thing that kids grow up eating in Canada, and sometimes with ketchup.
This video also explained why I've noticed how ridiculously popular mac & cheese is in the Black community, right up there with fried chicken and watermelon. No I'm not trying to be racist, these are ACTUAL OBSERVATIONS.
Mac & cheese I've observed is a staple at a lot of predominantly black cook-outs and bbqs.
There's nothing wrong with that; I've had that mac & cheese several times and it truly is "soul food".
Thanks for combining my 2 favorite things: cooking and history. Keep up the good work!
i always love your content combining my two passions...i am very glad whenever i see a video of yours
I like the Thanksgiving pie idea (mentioned during the sponsorship segment). It reminds me of the Thanksgiving egg rolls my family makes with our leftovers. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce fried in a Lumpia wrapper and dipped in gravy is literally one of my favorite holiday things ever. 😍
That sounds immeasurably better than eating the parts dry and separately from each other.
My Mac & cheese secret ingredients are whole grain mustard and grated horseradish, they both go really well with a mature cheddar. I’ve always used breadcrumbs on mine too.
I'd definitely use mustard (mustard flour). I always use it in Welsh rarebit (has Max done a programme on rarebit/rabbit, cheese melted with milk or beer grilled on toast?), so I know it would be good in a macaroni cheese (as we say east of the Atlantic).
I just have to say I love your name. Is Colonel Mustard a friend of yours?
Colman's dry mustard powder here.
@@ericgrumbles447 Yes, no kitchen should be without it. Best emulsifier ever for a vinaigrette, too.
I love your detail and flare for style! Everything about your channel makes me binge watch.
Thank you. I truly adore your videos and get a lot of enjoyment (and hunger) from watching.
The Swiss word "Alplermagronen" means "Alpine herder's macaroni"; it was a dish they could easily transport dry up to the alps for their herding seasons, and prepare it in their relatively simple huts. The curved pasta is called "Hörnli", which shape refers to the horns of the native chamois or ibex. It's still a popular dish, but I don't know any Swiss worth their salt that would serve it from a box! Fresh cheese and milk and good pasta is a must.
As a herder you at least have easy access to fresh dairy, that even walks itself up the mountain.
Dear Max Miller,
Thanks for your lovely channel and delightful videos. You're the youtube Renaissance Man that we all need in our lives. I watch every video you post but I rarely comment (largely because I simply forget to do so), but the quality and work put into your content merits engagement and more. Thanks for what you do. I both appreciate it, and enjoy it!
Thank you so much, Amy!
Bravo! - Superb research and writing of your script. Thanks for being selective and precise in selecting your B-Roll photos and videos. It's great to see someone who takes the mantle of teaching and does it with respect to their audience.
Thank you for posting old cooking always interests me!
Thanks for celebrating James Hemings! He was hired out as a chef before he went to France with his sister Sally and Jefferson. The most coveted invitation in Washington and Monticello because James “cookery”. 💐
Are you talking about the 'Monticello Hotel' in Longview, Washington? Because if that's the case, I know that place from an episode of 'Gordon Ramsey's Hotel Hell' & while it's destine was ultimately sad, I'm amazed my binging of Kitchen & Nightmares & Hotel Hell came in handy with historical knowledge lol
@@ElianaRosalind Where? No, I mean Presidential home in Albemarle County, Virginia! Everyone knows where Monticello is…🤨 Edit: Checked Yelp and the place sounds like a dump! Beware the dry, musty stringy old chicken salad! 🤢
@@yvettemarshallTWN Oh, i'm sorry, i should have mentioned i'm not american so i don't know much about more specific, local history & geography. Always looking forward to learning about different topics tho!
I love that you included Thomas Jefferson's handwritten description of the macaroni-making machine. If you read through it, you can see that there is even a part of the machine that can be changed out for a different one, thereby being able to make different types of pasta.
It was also just so interesting to see a picture of his actual handwriting, and the use of language he chose. In particular, I love the way he always hooks forward his "d" when it is the final letter of a word; so interesting!
This was a wonderful video, Max. Thanks again for including the handwritten note by Thomas Jefferson.
I was thinking actually that the elbow shape didn't come about for a while bc you need an extruder for that. It's more fascinating than I thought Mac n cheese would be
It reminds me of my all time favorite 90s infomercial, the Popeil Pasta Maker!
In XVIII and XIX century Poland we also had a slang word of calling someone “macaroni”, it was used for snobbish nobles who used a lot of Latin in day to day speech, often not knowing Latin well and making up their own words/expressions
Your channel is a great escape, and one of the most enjoyable on CZcams.
I laughed out loud at two points - education with your libation - and - one box could feed a family of four or a Max of one. Great stuff and kept me entertained despite my loathing of mac and cheese.
I may not like Macaroni and Cheese (am more a Lasagne girl), but it won't stop me watching a video about the history of Macaroni and Cheese by one of my favourite CZcamsrs :)
I mention lasagna!
Same!
Bro, you are so wholesome. I love your videos.
I live in casserole country, the south, and my grandmother's mac 'n cheese recipe continues to be passed down. if it doesn't make an appearance at family gatherings much lamentation follows. her "secret" ingredient is three dashes of tobasco sauce in the milk before poured over the noodles and cheese. we have a funny story about it... one year my grandmother was ill so my grandfather made the dish that year... his attitude was always, "if a little is good a lot will be better"... I don't know how much tobasco he added, but it was inedible. my 3 yr old cousin was the only one who spoke out... this will go down in our family history as "Papa's mac 'n cheese" 😂
The Alton Brown method of making bread crumb topping for mac and cheese is still my fave: 1 cup panko breadcrumbs mixed into a few tablespoons of melted butter. That extra fat makes it even more rich. With this dish you could definitely toast it up more in the pan since it won't be going in the oven.
Dried grain in a cheese sauce topped with fat-soaked dried grains. That's a waistline disaster (not) waiting to happen. A delicious one all the same, but damn.
Bonus points for parmesan cheese in there too.
Fun fact: here in the UK, we have an equivalent to Kraft Mac & Cheese that comes in a *red* box, called "Cheesey Pasta" - when I first had it as a kid, it was Kraft branded, but in recent years it seems to have dropped that branding for Mondelez International.
For anyone out there reading this who loves their blue box, I also have a suggestion to improve it: swap the butter for cream cheese.
_... swap the butter for cream cheese._
VERY interesting, I'll have to give THAT a try!
Kraft Foods changed their name to Mondelēz International, Inc. in 2012 and then spun off a new company called Kraft Foods Group for North American "grocery" items, using the new Mondelēz name for snack foods in North America. Then, in 2015, Kraft Foods merged with H.J. Heinz to form "Kraft Heinz," My Canadian box of "Kraft Dinner" has Kraft Heinz identified in small print on the back. Mondelēz owns Cadbury (including Fry's), and various cookie/biscuit and cracker brands worldwide. I assume that the new Kraft Heinz is now the parent company of Heinz in the UK, but I can't confirm.
I usually mix it margarine-cheese powder-milk-extra grated cheddar- I’m interested to see that you have the patience to measure it too, I always just eyeball it
If I could gif respond, I would be using the one of Jake from Adventure Time with his hands up in awe around his face and lots of sparklies, because I think you just opened the door to something amazing here.
How have I not thought of that before?? I love cream cheese! Will definitely be trying that :D
One of the things I used to do when I was younger, and I have no clue what started it, was to add a little bit of barbecue sauce to my mac and cheese. It's delicious!
I need to try mac and cheese plus a little bit of cayenne pepper now.
I started drooling when you read the recipe out... This sounds so good.
Who knew a meal that we percieve today as a quick and easy had such a varied and interesting history. From the British Upper class cultrual movements to Thomas Jefferson's wheel of cheese I was thoroughly enthralled.
One of your best for sure :)
It's strange to think that mac and cheese traces its roots in one way or another to the Forme of Curry. To think it had such a lengthy history. This is why I love your channel, Max.
I love this dude, haven't stopped watching you daily for a week