<story><title>Annie of Annie&apos;s Mac and Cheese</title><url>https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Annie-s-Mac-and-Cheese-is-based-in-Bay-Area-but-16049782.php</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>azinman2</author><text>If you&amp;#x27;re making Mac &amp;amp; cheese from scratch, why not just use real cheese? Or multiple cheeses (and herbs and...)?</text></item><item><author>jerf</author><text>&amp;quot;She boiled elbow pasta from Kraft, measured an identical amount of white cheddar cheese as was in the Kraft packet, added butter and milk, and then... “Whoa!” was the summation of her first bites.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve done that too, with cheese powder from Amazon. It does seem incrementally better. If there&amp;#x27;s a &amp;quot;secret ingredient&amp;quot; to macaroni &amp;amp; cheese, it&amp;#x27;s just the cheese powder which you can readily buy by the pound, and then use for other things. Like putting it on your popcorn (add onion powder to really round it out).&lt;p&gt;The nice thing is that you end up with a lot more versatility when your cheese powder isn&amp;#x27;t confined to a Mac&amp;amp;Cheese container. I also like to use it as part of cheese sauces for broccoli and such. It&amp;#x27;s not a staple in my kitchen, but I probably manage to go through a pound in about 6-9 months, and it still generally tastes good even at the end.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Balgair</author><text>The main impediment is that with a &amp;#x27;proper&amp;#x27; Mac&amp;#x27;n&amp;#x27;Cheese you need to make a roux before adding the cheese in. Roux are somewhat above the skill level of the average cook. It&amp;#x27;s not super complex (just equal weights of flour and butter), but the &lt;i&gt;timing&lt;/i&gt; and the &lt;i&gt;heat&lt;/i&gt; are. Undercooked roux are a bit sour,raw, and yeasty, while over cooked roux are burnt. The time between over and undercooked can be down to only a few seconds. It takes a fair few failed roux to get right, hence it is just above the experience levels of most home cooks.&lt;p&gt;Aside: A roux is the basis of many &amp;#x27;creamy&amp;#x27; sauces. Learning the skill of roux making is &lt;i&gt;very much&lt;/i&gt; worth your time as a home cook.&lt;p&gt;If you still can&amp;#x27;t manage to get it down, try xantham gum instead. Mix it in with some oil first, then add your liquids. Again, you&amp;#x27;ll need to experiment with hydration ratios, but it&amp;#x27;s a much easier and faster method that will also work for cold dishes. It&amp;#x27;s powerful stuff, maybe a teaspoon per liter of water will thicken quite a bit.</text></comment>
<story><title>Annie of Annie&apos;s Mac and Cheese</title><url>https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Annie-s-Mac-and-Cheese-is-based-in-Bay-Area-but-16049782.php</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>azinman2</author><text>If you&amp;#x27;re making Mac &amp;amp; cheese from scratch, why not just use real cheese? Or multiple cheeses (and herbs and...)?</text></item><item><author>jerf</author><text>&amp;quot;She boiled elbow pasta from Kraft, measured an identical amount of white cheddar cheese as was in the Kraft packet, added butter and milk, and then... “Whoa!” was the summation of her first bites.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve done that too, with cheese powder from Amazon. It does seem incrementally better. If there&amp;#x27;s a &amp;quot;secret ingredient&amp;quot; to macaroni &amp;amp; cheese, it&amp;#x27;s just the cheese powder which you can readily buy by the pound, and then use for other things. Like putting it on your popcorn (add onion powder to really round it out).&lt;p&gt;The nice thing is that you end up with a lot more versatility when your cheese powder isn&amp;#x27;t confined to a Mac&amp;amp;Cheese container. I also like to use it as part of cheese sauces for broccoli and such. It&amp;#x27;s not a staple in my kitchen, but I probably manage to go through a pound in about 6-9 months, and it still generally tastes good even at the end.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lejohnq</author><text>Using real cheese is surprisingly difficult because it doesn’t melt in the nice creamy way without additions.&lt;p&gt;Sodium citrate for example helps your cheese melt creamily.&lt;p&gt;The powder likely contains the right balance of additions that give you a great creamy mac &amp;amp; cheese.&lt;p&gt;A good reference: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.seriouseats.com&amp;#x2F;recipes&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;sodium-citrate-baked-mac-and-cheese.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.seriouseats.com&amp;#x2F;recipes&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;sodium-citrate-b...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>