I Got the Blues

Mac and Cheese....we all love it! Its a simple dish that reminds us of home, that takes us back to our roots as children, a dish best summed up with the words, melty, cheesy, and just plain awesome. Lately, Macaroni and cheese has been on my mind, and I'm not talking about that watered down blue box stuff, I'm talking about real, made-from-scratch, homestyle cooking that has remained one of America's favorite childhood meals. I definitely got the blues, and even more so after a trip to New York City in the summer of 2010 where I got to sample one of the very best macaroni dishes I've ever tasted.

Apparently my mother and sister, who pretty much watch the Food Network day and night consecutively, had seen a feature story about a place called The MacBar located in the SOHO district of NYC. During my trip, they phoned me all the way from San Diego to inform me about this place, and I'm certainly glad they did. Me and my Dad, who was with me at the time of my trip, walked endlessly looking for this restaurant. We were expecting a place packed with hungry customers when we finally found it. Turned out, however, it was nothing more than a hole in the wall business, not much bigger than the size of my dorm room. I was a bit skeptical, everyone raved about this place and it was even featured on Food Network; there had to be a crowd for this place to be awesome, right? Boy was I wrong. I ordered a four cheese macaroni dish, and it was hands down one of the most memorable things I had in New York. This place was extremely unique, and took traditional macaroni and cheese to a whole new level, and this got me thinking, "Why can't we have something this fantastic back home?"

The only macaroni I ever eat nowadays comes from that famous blue box with the "Cheesasaurus", as they call him, and it really is great and all, I enjoy eating it and it has a decent taste. However, it is nowhere near the intesity of flavor I experienced on my trip. That stuff is generic and fast, I wanted something with a little more character, boldness, and fresh ingredients, just like what I  had at the macbar. Eventually I began searching recipes for homemade mac and cheese. What I found only made my mouth water and crave for a taste of what I was reading. There were recipes for gourmet mac and cheese, southern mac and cheese, traditional Italian mac and cheese, homestyle mac and cheese, and countless of original and improvised recipes that all sounded extremely delicious. I decided to attempt one of these recipes, just for old times sake. If I couldn't have gourmet west coast mac and cheese that was just as delicious as New York mac and cheese, then I was going to make my own.

The recipe I discovered actually incorported bacon bits, dijon mustard, and parmesian breadcrumbs, which I had never heard of before. But it sounded so good, I just had to try it. I bought the ingredients, and began to mix them together in my mothers kitchen, just like it said in the recipe's instructions, step by step. Everything smelled so wonderfull; the sharp cheddar, the mustard, the parmesian, the crackling bacon cooking over the stove, it all came together quite harmoniously. I cooked the elbow macaroni in boiling water and strained it, placed it into a ceramic pot and mixed in the milk, butter, and cheese sauce (which included the mustard as well, adding small hint of spicyness). Next came the breadcrumb and parmesian for the crispy layer on top. All that was left was to pop it in the oven at 350 degrees fareinheit and waited about 20 minutes until the top was nice and brown. As I pulled out the dish, the aroma rushed out and hit me all at once, and to be honest it was a far better aroma than I was expecting (considering I'm no expert in cooking). The cheese bubbled around the edges and I was ready to dig in. The one thing I had been craving for the longest time was just a spoonfull away, but not before I topped it off with the finally ingredient: freshly crumbled bacon bits. Finally the moment of truth, I indulged. It didn't quite have the flavor of the macbar macaroni and cheese I had hoped for, but it was delicious in its own way, and that was kind of the fun in making my own. It was still homecooked, and had that bold flavor I wanted in a macaroni and cheese dish, and in that way I succeeded. No more of that crappy blue box stuff for me, whenever I get the blues for real mac and cheese, I know now that I don't have to fly 3,000 miles away to get it. All I need is a little imagination, fairly decent cooking skills, and an appetite for some of the best macaroni and cheese I can dish up. As the Italians would say, "Bon Appetite".