Mac and Cheese

Southern baked macaroni and cheese — elbow macaroni bound in a custard of eggs, evaporated milk, butter, and an aggressive quantity of sharp cheddar, baked until the top is golden and the interior is creamy and just set — is a fundamentally different dish from the stovetop, roux-based mac and cheese served in restaurants. The Southern version is a custard, not a sauce. It is baked, not stirred. It is a holiday dish, a church potluck dish, a Sunday dinner standard that occupies the same cultural position on the Black Southern table as green bean casserole on the white Midwestern table — except that mac and cheese is better, more important, and more passionately argued about. James Hemings — Thomas Jefferson's enslaved chef, who trained in Paris (see WA diaspora thread) — is credited with introducing macaroni and cheese to the American table after Jefferson encountered pasta in Italy and France. The dish's American origin story begins with an enslaved Black chef.

Elbow macaroni (or any short, tubular pasta — the tubes trap the custard) cooked until just al dente, combined with a custard of beaten eggs, evaporated milk (its concentrated proteins produce a creamier, more stable custard than fresh milk), butter, sharp cheddar cheese (grated — a lot of it), salt, pepper, dry mustard, and sometimes a pinch of cayenne. Poured into a buttered baking dish, topped with more cheese, and baked at 175°C until the top is golden-brown and bubbling, the interior is set but still creamy (not solid, not runny — a gentle jiggle when the dish is shaken). Cut into squares and served.

Alongside fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, sweet potatoes — the full soul food plate. Mac and cheese provides the creamy, rich, cheesy counterpoint to the smoky greens and the crunchy fried chicken. Hot sauce is not traditional on mac and cheese but is not prohibited.