Everyone needs a go-to mac and cheese recipe; this is mine, from a 1994 Gourmet magazine via Epicurious.com. I've made it for numerous Fourth of July parties, birthdays and summer lunches by the pool and it's the freakin' definition of "crowd pleaser." Nothing fancy, no additions of curry powder or green onion or smoked mozzarella (though those would probably all be good), just elbow macaroni, cheddar and Parmesan, bread crumbs, milk and butter, with a dash of cayenne, dry mustard and a little flour. Baked in the oven with a bread crumb topping and sliced into wedges, it's dense and creamy in the middle with a delicate crunchy top.

If you do want to try some additions, dozens of Epicurious commenters have left their suggestions. But I think it's just perfect for what it is, which is why I wanted to share. I'll be making four batches later for my pig pickin'. More on that later...

I bet Burger King hates coming in second to McDonald's all the time. In fact, I'm pretty darn sure, if only because of the new products the company is introducing.

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, the world's second largest burger chain is going to start serving Kraft brand macaroni and cheese in test markets (which were not named in the article). And soon the corporation will roll out "BK Wrappers" to compete directly with its McDonald's counterpart.

Kraft brand macaroni and cheese is pretty well known in the supermarkets, but the company has a whole division for making the cheesy pasta dish for restaurants. Kraft has said it will make a macaroni and cheese just for Burger King.

Burger King spokespeople have said that while not completely aimed at children, they were a major consideration. Now parents can have one more reason their kids will love the King.

There are approximately 3,277 different ways to make macaroni and cheese. Different cheese combinations, different types of macaroni, different ways to cook it, and even different ingredients to throw into the mix. Do you think you have the best recipe in the U.S.?

OK, then prove it. ABC's Good Morning America is looking for the best mac 'n cheese recipe in the country. It's the Emeril Lagasse's Best Mac 'N Cheese Ever Challenge. Go to this page and fill out the form and include your recipe. You can add a picture of the completed dish or a video of it being made if you want. Deadline is February 1.

And there's no need to include a "BAM!" anywhere in your recipe.

I don't know how these two food holidays ended up on the same day, but today is both National Macaroni Day and National Grand Marnier Day.

And, no, I couldn't find a recipe that has both of them as ingredients.

Here are a bunch of macaroni and cheese recipes from AllRecipes.com, and here's some from southernfood.about.com. In England they just call it macaroni cheese, without the "and." And here's a tuna casserole recipe using macaroni. My mom made a variation of this many times when I was a kid.

For dessert, how about some Grand Marnier Cranberry Muffins? For a drink, how about a Grand Romance? Full recipe after the jump.

We've talked a lot about guilty pleasures here at Slashfood, and our friends at AOL Food have a whole category devoted to it. And one of those guilty pleasures (and also a comfort food) is Macaroni and Cheese.

Here's a recipe for Mom's Mac 'n' Cheese. Now, it's not my mom's mac 'n' cheese, but it's the type of dish someone's mom might make. My mom didn't put tomatoes in hers, but that's a nice touch. Full recipe after the jump.

"What," you may be asking yourself this first day of the second week of the new year, "is that utterly gorgeous thing taking up the post like a centerfold?"

It is an utterly orgasmic baked Macaroni and Cheese filled with not just any cheese, but goat cheese, sharp cheddar and parmigiano reggiano. While it does have vegetables like shiitake and crimini mushrooms (does a sage garnish count as a vegetable?), it's also laced with truffle oil and adorned with a crispy top-layer of panko bread crumbs and parmigiano reggiano (again).

That's right. It's only for looking, because you have those new year's resolutions, right?

Last night, NPR's News and Notes featured a brief but serious piece about macaroni and cheese by Los Angeles-based columnist and actor Joseph C. Phillips. Phillips seems truly distressed, and rightly so, that his kids have been served a powdery, imitation mac and cheese at a local restaurant. He uses this experience of what mac and cheese isn't as a springboard for talking about what mac and cheese is, and, more specifically, what it is in the African American community. "This is the storytelling," Phillips says of the guarded recipes and mystique that surround really good homemade examples of the dish. He then goes on to share a few of his favorite mac and cheese-related stories. His own recipe is available on his website, here. The photo is of Sarah Gim's liveblogged mac and cheese from last winter.

Champagne is taking off in restaurants all over LA.

In the kitchen, why mess with a classic? Keep macaroni and cheese simple. Sage is the star in recipes for Southwestern Squash Stew, Cheddar-Sage Cornbread, and Petrale Sole with Sage, Poblano and Tomatoes. Make sure you pick the right sage for your taste. It's not just for boba. Tapioca is going fom childhood pudding to sophisticated desserts: Tapioca with peaches and mint, Tapioca with strawberry gelée and fresh strawberries, and Cinnamon tapioca brûlée with Cherry Gastrique.

Out on the restaurant scene, Leslie Brenner visits an old stand-by, Giorgio's. Susan La Tempa praises The Colony Cafe in West LA and Betty Hallock tracks down the recipe for California white sturgeon from downtown's Water Grill.

Perhaps you haven't noticed it because you are a victim of the phenomenon. You called up your girlfriends on your cotton candy pink cel phone adorned with sparkly cupcake-shaped charms, went out to get frozen yogurt topped with Cap'n Crunch cereal, and sat around talking about the "cuuuuuuutest" Hello Kitty makeup bag at Sephora and gossiping about "boys"...just like all the other junior high girls.

But wait. You're 35.

I was just reading an article about a new book called Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown-Up, in which author Christopher Noxon says very plainly, "'People all over are refusing to act their age." Basically, grown-ups are going through a period of regression back to their childhoods. Though his book talks about the trend from a broad perspective, I couldn't help but think how very true this trend is in food. I mean, how else do you explain a craze for cupcakes, those tiny treats that we ate as children in our homeroom birthday parties? What about the recent throwback to "retro" foods that many of us associate with growing up in mom's kitchen like macaroni and cheese, and meatloaf?

Are we regressing as a society? I know I am. Are you one of these grownups who still lives with his/her parents, postpones marriage, watches cartoons, all the while eating Hello Kitty Pop-tarts, dipping your dinosaur (chicken) nuggets in ketchup and having a Twinkie for desert? If so, what other "rejuvenile" foods are you eating?

Macaroni & Cheese: 52 Recipes from Simple to Sublime is a single-subject cookbook that comfort food fans can really get behind. This book starts most of its recipes off with a basic roux, a mixture of flour, milk and butter that is the foundation of many oh-so-creamy sauces, and nothing in it resembles the stuff that comes from a blue box and bright orange cheese powder. The author tackles a very classic macaroni and cheese, but also takes advantage of cheeses from around the world, including Asiago, Roquefort and Feta. She blends the cheeses and pastas with other ingredients to create down-home comfort dishes, like Green Chile Mac and Cheese, and adds in things such as lobster meat, prosciutto and artichoke hearts for more upscale variations. There is even a dessert macaroni and cheese, made with a creamy, sweetened mascarpone mixture.

Some of the recipes are original, while some have been collected from various chefs that Joan Schwartz, the author, has worked with. Regardless of the origin of the recipe or the distance it has developed from what why may remember from childhood, the fact that the basic technique is the same or similar for each recipe means that you'll be able to add 52 recipes to your repertoire in very short order.

If you can work fast and get your recipe together, then you still have time to enter the Tillamook Cheese Macaroni & Cheese recipe contest!

The Oregon-based cheese company has teamed up with LA's McCormick & Schmick's to sponsor the contest. Entries have to be submitted by Tuesday, May 2, 2006. Hey! That's today! The winner of the contest, which will actually be held on May 25, 2006, will receive $1,000 and will go on to the next "round" in Portland, OR to vie for the $5,000 national grand champion prize.

So hurry! But remember, the "directions" on the back of the box don't count as a recipe.

[via: LAist]

 The Girl Who Ate Everything is a fantastic blog, especially if you're interested in reviews of (primarily) New York area eateries and food porn. This mac and cheese, for example, was photographed on a recent visit she paid to Hip Hop Chow. If you want to see all of her photos, head over to her flickr gallery, otherwise just browse through the archives on her blog. It is well written and very entertaining, even if you're not in New York. How can you resist when she captions photos with cute tags, like "innards" and "outtards" for the different views of various dishes.  

Some foods are meant to go together. In fact, many of them pair so well that they have become the most classic comfort foods. In an effort to bypass the well-known, I first set out to collect the 8 worst food pairings, but was so disgusted by the idea of pickled herring and cheesecake that I was forced to stop. I realized that it is for good reason that some foods get paired: they taste great together and make such good combinations that it is hard to think of one without the other. These are definitely a few of the best:

1. Peanut butter and jelly
2. Macaroni and cheese
3. Fish and chips (or burgers and fries)
4. Bacon and eggs
5. Milk and cookies
6. Pancakes and syrup
7. Gin and tonic
8. Spaghetti and meatballs

Salt and pepper is, arguably, the ultimate combination, though they are seasonings and not exactly "food". Here are some of the runners up from the list above: Butter and toast, cupcakes and sprinkles, tomato soup and grilled cheese, cheese and crackers and Ben and Jerry’s.

I know there are lots of others. What are we missing?

Because so many parents cannot resist the convenience of boxed macaroni and cheese when it comes to feeding their kids, there will probably always be a market for it. Some of the options are just not appetizing, with clumps of cheez-powder and either crunchy or gummy noodles. But because it is a marketable product, not to mention a popular comfort food, more companies are releasing tastier versions of boxed mac and cheese and Real Simple sat down to taste a few in this month's issue. Their top three versions were Whole Kids Organic White Cheddar Cheese , Annie's Homegrown Creamy Deluxe Shells & Real Aged Wisconsin Cheddar and Back to Nature Crazy Bugs. Tasters liked the "authentic cheese flavor" of the Whole Kids brand. Annie's brand came with a packet of cheese sauce instead of a powder. The Crazy Bugs pasta is shaped like bugs (it doesn't include real bugs) and has a slightly sweet cheese. The magazine had kids taste the contenders, as well as adults, to get their feedback and all the kids loved these versions of macaroni and cheese. All three of the taste test winners are available at stores like Whole Foods, but may be available in your local grocery store, too.

The Food Network editors put together a list of their favorite comfort foods of the past year and if anyone needed any confirmation that Paula Deen is the darling of the network, this is it. 7 out of the top 10 recipes are hers and the Sweet Potato Casserole credited to the "Food Network Kitchens" has a distinctly Paula feel, albeit with less butter than she would use. Their top picks are:

• Good Eats Roast Turkey
• Chicken and Rice Casserole
• Lasagna Rolls
• Baked Spaghetti
• Grandgirl's Fresh Apple Cake from Georgia
• Southern Cornbread Stuffing
• Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes
• Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Cheeseburger Meatloaf and Sauce

It's hard to believe that they didn't pick any macaroni and cheese for their list, particularly since a search of their site turned up 64 hits, two of which are Paula Deen recipes. It is also a surprise that no Rachael Ray recipes made the list, since her specialty is quick and easy comfort food. Instead of going with a list comprised mainly of casseroles, it would have been nice to diversify the list with some chocolate chip cookies, soups or other non-pasta dishes, too.