Dumb question but what’s the difference? As someone who grew up on the orange stuff from a box, and learned to make the one on the right in recent years, what am I looking for? Is the left just baked? I’ve done that. Is it a topping or spice that encourages browning?
If you’re making the one on the right using flour + butter-> brown -> Milk -> cheese then you’re mostly there. You just slightly undercook the noodles before mixing in the cheese sauce and cover with shredded cheese and bake until the top browns. Some people will add panko/breadcrumbs for a bit of crunch.
I would absolutely make it this way with a roux to bake it. If I’m not baking it though you can for sure one pan it. Drain mostly cooked noodles, milk, butter, Velveeta, cream cheese, and a little bit of any other hard orange cheese you might have. Principally, this is I believe the main application for Velveeta besides queso and it’s the star of Mac and cheese on the stovetop.
Velveeta is a lot safer in these kinds of recipes because it’s less likely to clump if your roux/milk/cheese ratio is off.
However, you can just use the same cheat that Velveeta uses, a culinary emulsifier, to get the same results while also using high quality cheese. Traditionally the roux acts as an emulsifier but it’s easy to have too much fats for the amount of roux that you’ve made so you get the clumping/grainy texture. Using sodium citrate you can just mix the cheese and milk directly without needing to make the roux. It’s very convenient to just heat milk and put cheese in it without fussing with the roux.
Here’s a recipe if you want to try it (spoiler: it’s basically milk, cheese, sodium citrate):
Dumb question but what’s the difference? As someone who grew up on the orange stuff from a box, and learned to make the one on the right in recent years, what am I looking for? Is the left just baked? I’ve done that. Is it a topping or spice that encourages browning?
Everyone shed a tear for this poor individual.
If I were there I’d invite you to the next cookout. The sleeper must awaken.
If you’re making the one on the right using flour + butter-> brown -> Milk -> cheese then you’re mostly there. You just slightly undercook the noodles before mixing in the cheese sauce and cover with shredded cheese and bake until the top browns. Some people will add panko/breadcrumbs for a bit of crunch.
I would absolutely make it this way with a roux to bake it. If I’m not baking it though you can for sure one pan it. Drain mostly cooked noodles, milk, butter, Velveeta, cream cheese, and a little bit of any other hard orange cheese you might have. Principally, this is I believe the main application for Velveeta besides queso and it’s the star of Mac and cheese on the stovetop.
Velveeta is a lot safer in these kinds of recipes because it’s less likely to clump if your roux/milk/cheese ratio is off.
However, you can just use the same cheat that Velveeta uses, a culinary emulsifier, to get the same results while also using high quality cheese. Traditionally the roux acts as an emulsifier but it’s easy to have too much fats for the amount of roux that you’ve made so you get the clumping/grainy texture. Using sodium citrate you can just mix the cheese and milk directly without needing to make the roux. It’s very convenient to just heat milk and put cheese in it without fussing with the roux.
Here’s a recipe if you want to try it (spoiler: it’s basically milk, cheese, sodium citrate):
https://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/silky-smooth-macaroni-and-cheese/