Well Adapted Comfort Food

Mac and cheese bites

Generation X latchkey kids had a lot of babysitters. Often they were kids only slightly older than me or trusted people from the neighborhood. One time, a babysitter in the apartment complex I lived in attempted to make boxed Mac & Cheese for myself and a friend. The babysitter struggled with the box instructions for some reason, but Mac and Cheese is one of the easiest things to make, and the variations on it are endless. 

Medieval Roots

Mac and Cheese dates back at least to the 14th-century medieval cookbook The Forme of Cury, or earlier. Amusingly, a Middle English recipe for it was as follows: 

Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh. and kerve it on pieces, and cast hem on boiling water & seeþ it well. take cheese and grate it and butter cast bynethen and above as losyns. and serue forth.

Mac and Cheese Goes Mainstream

This translates to cooking bite-sized pasta, and adding cheese and butter. The first modern recipe appeared in 1769 and, unsurprisingly, French cuisine, with its Mornay sauce – a béchamel sauce with cheese added – fit in well with Mac and Cheese. Another stripped-down recipe appeared in 1824 calling for simply pasta, cheese, and butter. This is the iteration we know today. 

Mac and (Three) Cheeses

Mac and Cheese is so versatile that a restaurant in Oakland, California, Homeroom, serves only Mac and Cheese, in a variety of variations. At Bex Kitchen, Chef Becky uses three types of cheese as well as interesting ingredients such as crème fraiche and cayenne (for a slight kick). Bex Mac and Cheese is made from scratch with an emphasis, as always, on fresh and local ingredients. Mac and Cheese is often a comfort food in America, and pairs well with anything from a casual meal to a fancier catered event. It can be made in a rich and decadent way or modified for vegetarian, vegan, and other diets. Chef Becky recommends using panko, a Japanese breadcrumb made from bread baked by electrical current, to elevate your Mac and Cheese. Chef Sara Bir in Ohio recommends adding flavor with a bit of schmaltz or saved fat. 

Mac and Cheese and Health

Mac and Cheese is adaptable enough for the emerging interest in keto, paleo, FODMAP, and alternative ingredients diets. It is a classic that can feed babysat kids or royalty. Bex Kitchen offers traditional Mac and Cheese as well as Mac and Cheese Bites, which incorporate the essence of Mac and Cheese in a single Bex bite. “It’s all about the bite,” as Chef Becky says. 

Please reach out and let us know your favorite way of serving Mac and Cheese! info@bexkitchen.com