Mac 'n' Cheese

When Thomas Jefferson was living in
Europe as America's minister to France,
he encountered macaroni, a long strand pasta
made by machine (much like the one shown)
rather than by hand. He was so enchanted,
he had his secretary, William Short, travel to
Naples, Italy, to buy him one.

Hard to believe, but there was a time before mac 'n' cheese. In fact, the earliest American cookbooks don't even mention pasta. However, anyone living in 18th-century American might easily have heard of macaroni (from maccheroni, an Italian term for pasta), because cookbooks imported from Europe included recipes for it.

Eventually macaroni did become available in this country. By the early 19th century, Thomas Jefferson, a big fan, was buying it in 25-pound boxes from a place in Trenton, New Jersey. The pasta costs him 16 cents a pound.

A 19th-century American cook who managed to get her hands on some macaroni would probably have prepared it by boiling it in broth (often veal) and serving it topped with grated cheese. Another method involved boiling the pasta and then tossing it with cheese and butter, topping it with breadcrumbs, and baking it in a Dutch oven.

Whatever the recipe, before macaroni was cooked it had to be broken into small pieces, because this tubular pasta was sold as long strands. (At least one cookbook from the early 1900s referred to them as "sticks" of macaroni.) It wasn't until 1912, when a grocery in Minneapolis invented quick-cooking macaroni under the brand Creamette, that you could get the short elbow macaroni we know today.

Several decades later, cookbooks still referred to "creamettes" and macaroni as two different pastas. The original meaning of macaroni was lost forever, though, when in 1937 Kraft invented its popular macaroni-and-cheese dinner (which was made with the shorter pasta).

This recipe is a blend of several methods that appeared in an 1807 cookbook called A New System of Domestic Cookery, which was written in England but also sold in the United States.

Early American Mac 'n' Cheese

Makes 8 servings
This traditional gratin-like dish was eventually overtaken by sauce-style mac 'n' cheese.

11/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (from 3 ounces firm-textured sandwich bread)
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into bits
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg or mace
2 cups elbow macaroni (8 ounces)
1 large egg yolk
13/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat the bottom of a 7 x 11-inch or 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, combine the breadcrumbs, butter, and Parmesan. Pulse on and off until the butter is completely and evenly blended into the crumbs.
3. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth and nutmeg to a boil over high heat. Stir in the macaroni, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolk.
5. Reserving the cooking broth, drain the pasta. One tablespoons at a time, beat 1/4 cup of the reserved broth into the egg yolk. Add the pasta and toss to coat well.
6. Layer the macaroni into the baking dish in three layers, sprinkling with cheddar between each. End with a layer of cheddar, then top with the breadcrumb mixture.
7. Bake until the crumb coating is nicely browned, 16 to 18 minutes.

Italian-ish Macaroni Gratin: Add 1/2 teaspoon dried basil and 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano to the breadcrumbs. Increase the broth to 41/2 cups. Omit the nutmeg. And 1/3 cup slivered sun-dried tomatoes when you cook the pasta. Add 1/2 cup minced fresh basil when you toss the pasta with the egg yolk. Use 1 cup cheddar and 3/4 cup provolone.

[This article first appeared in the September/October 2008 issue of Hallmark Magazine.]