Macaroni and Cheese

There are six trillion recipes for something like macaroni and cheese. The food writer John Thorne once condemned all versions that have a white sauce base. Well, fine, be that way, but his book's out of print. And I've tried his, and it's fine, but it sure won't reheat.

This recipe, scaled up from the one in Craig Claiborne's Kitchen Primer, is what we have always eaten.

12 oz. uncooked macaroni (3 cups), or 6 cups cooked pasta or noodles

Cheese sauce:
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
3 cups hot milk (whole milk best; nonfat is too grainy)
3/8 tsp. nutmeg
3/16 tsp. cayenne pepper (or 1/8 tsp. plus some Tabasco)
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups grated or cubedsharp cheddar cheese

3 tbsp. grated Parmesan or Asiago

Cook the macaroni and drain. Unless you have the cheese sauce ready, rinse with cold water, shaking or stirring to avoid clumps, and drain thoroughly when cold.

Make the cheese sauce: melt the butter, add the flour, and whisk for a couple of minutes. Add the hot milk (microwave works well to heat it up) bit by bit, and when it is hot and bubbly, add the nutmeg, cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and stir in all the cheese, switching from the whisk to a large spoon.

Grease a 3 qt. baking dish or two smaller ones. Put the macaroni in and pour the cheese sauce over it. If you use two small baking dishes, or a single very large flat one, this can go directly into the oven at 375° for about a half-hour, but if you use a large one with more cubical proportions, the top will burn before the middle is hot, so you need to heat it in the microwave for ten or fifteen minutes, stirring every few minutes to heat uniformly. Then put into the 375° oven. Or bake at 325° for an hour or so and then raise the heat to 375°.

Craig Claiborne wants you to put dots of butter all over the top of the casserole and then sprinkle the Parmesan (or Asiago) over it. I think this is supposed to avoid crustiness on the top. Why would you want to do that? In our family, the crusty part is prized. Just sprinkle the cheese over when you put it in the oven.