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Macaroni and cheese

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Macaroni and cheese is a warm and creamy pasta dish.

8.28.12CheeseburgerMacByLuigiNovi1
8.28.12CheeseburgerMacByLuigiNovi1

Most people call it mac and cheese. In the United Kingdom, people often say macaroni cheese. It is a popular comfort food for many. The dish uses macaroni pasta covered in a smooth cheese sauce. Most often, people use cheddar cheese for the sauce. Some people use a Mornay sauce to add the cheese. You might also see people use Gruyère, Gouda, or Parmesan.

Cicis-Mac&Cheese-Pizza
Cicis-Mac&Cheese-Pizza

There are many ways to prepare this meal. You can bake it in a casserole dish in the oven. Some cooks prefer using a saucepan on the stove. You can even layer slices of cheese and pasta with butter. Some people even make macaroni and cheese pizza.

Cicis-Mac&Cheese-Pizza
Cicis-Mac&Cheese-Pizza

In Switzerland, people make a dish called Älplermagronen. This version uses macaroni, cream, cheese, and roasted onions. Some people add potatoes, bacon, or ham to it. It is often served with a side of apple sauce. This shows how many different ways there are to enjoy it.

This dish has a very long history. It traces back to cheese and pasta casseroles in medieval England. Elizabeth Raffald wrote a recipe in her 1769 book. Her version used a bechamel sauce and Parmesan cheese. In 1845, Eliza Acton wrote about a recipe called Macaroni a la Reine. She suggested melting white cheese into cream with mace and nutmeg. In Canada, British immigrants brought the dish with them. They used ingredients like cream, egg yolks, and mustard. This helped make the dish a part of Canadian culture.

In the United States, the dish became very famous. One theory says James Hemings brought the recipe from France. Thomas Jefferson was also very interested in pasta. In 1802, Jefferson served a macaroni pie at a state dinner. Later, Mary Randolph wrote a recipe in her 1824 book. She used only three ingredients: macaroni, cheese, and butter. By the mid-1880s, recipes reached as far west as Kansas.

8.28.12CheeseburgerMacByLuigiNovi1
8.28.12CheeseburgerMacByLuigiNovi1

As factories made ingredients cheaper, more people could enjoy it.

Today, you can find macaroni and cheese in many forms. A man named Grant Leslie helped create boxed mixes. He once used rubber bands to attach cheese to pasta boxes. This led to the Kraft brand in 1937. In Canada, many people call it Kraft Dinner or KD. Canadians buy nearly 25% of the 7 million Kraft Dinner boxes sold each week.

Flickr qmnonic 123431456--Kraft Dinner and veggie dogs
Flickr qmnonic 123431456--Kraft Dinner and veggie dogs

It is so popular that some call it Canada's national dish. You can find it in boxes, cans, or even frozen meals.

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File:Cicis-Mac&Cheese-Pizza.jpg
Cicis-Mac&Cheese-Pizza.jpg
File:Flickr qmnonic 123431456--Kraft Dinner and veggie dogs.jpg
Flickr qmnonic 123431456--Kraft Dinner...
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