John F. Kennedy famously remarked that a White House dinner he held for Nobel Prize winners was “the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
Ah, Jefferson.
He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President of the United States and a devotee of macaroni and cheese.
Macaroni and cheese?
Jefferson was a foodie.
Macaroni and cheese was proudly introduced to America at his table at Monticello. Jefferson had discovered the dish during his five-year sojourn in Paris. There, he fell in love with French food and was so besotted with macaroni and cheese in particular that, when he returned to America, he was sure to bring back a recipe –along with a macaroni pasta extruder (America’s first!). Thereafter, he enthusiastically served macaroni and cheese at Monticello and at state dinners during his Presidency.
To be sure, you can get macaroni and cheese in various forms these days. It doesn’t have to be a gourmet dish.
You can get it deep-fried at fairs (ugh!) and sometimes wrapped in pastry (interesting!) and vended from food carts on the streets of urban America. Then, of course, you can make your own from those ubiquitous boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese found on every shelf in every market in every city and town in America–a standby for harassed moms and broke college students. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, by the way, has been around since the American Depression when it was advertised as feeding 4 people for 19 cents. Wow!
Jefferson, I think, would be appalled. For him, macaroni and cheese was an epicurean delight to be enjoyed in elegant surroundings– not some fried food on a stick.
Like Jefferson, I appreciate the elegance and subtleties of macaroni and cheese and it is a favorite dish on my table. In fact, one of the first dishes I learned to cook was macaroni and cheese. It was right out of the Good Housekeeping Cookbook (page 112, 1962 edition). I just looked it up to find the page number and found that I had underlined the recipe in bright orange. Made me laugh. The recipe is about as plain-Jane as macaroni and cheese recipes can be but it was delicious and I was a young cook when I used that orange marker.
Recently, during a late-night online recipe crawl, I came across a macaroni and cheese recipe that held the promise of upping my macaroni and cheese game. Tantalizingly, the recipe was one shared by Thomas Keller from his renowned Napa restaurant, Bouchon Bistro, where the dish is served as a part of the restaurant’s annual Thanksgiving dinner for veterans and their families. Keller’s recipe, published in Saveur Magazine, called for substituting some sophisticated cheese– Comte, fontina or Gruyere–for the traditional cheddar. His recipe also has you slow cooking a clove-studded onion in the sauce that is poured over the macaroni. Wow, again!
Here is my adaptation of Keller’s recipe.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 pound elbow macaroni
- Kosher salt and freshly ground white paper to taste
- 12 T. unsalted butter
- 1 C.flour
- 1 medium yellow onion (1/2 minced, 1/2 whole)
- 6 whole cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 C. whole milk
- 1 lb. Gruyere (grated) (I used Gruyere and a tiny bit of aged cheddar)
- 1 T. freshly-grated nutmeg
- 1/4 C. bread crumbs or cubes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Boil macaroni in a large pan of salted boiling water until it is al dente.This should take about 8 minutes. Drain macaroni and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 2 T. butter, set aside.
- Add the remaining butter to a large pan and melt over medium heat. Saute the minced onion in the butter until it is golden. This should take 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 3 minutes. Stick the cloves into the onion half and add to the pan along with the two bay leaves. Whisk milk into the flour/butter mixture and bring to a boil. Once the milk begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened. This should take 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat once it has thickened and strain it through a fine-mesh sieve over the macaroni. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese, the nutmeg, and the salt and pepper.
- Transfer macaroni and cheese to a large baking dish (9 inch by 13 inch). Top with remaining cheese and the bread cubes.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.The bread cubes should be golden brown and the macaroni and cheese mixture should be bubbly when your dish is done.
- Remove macaroni and cheese from the oven and let it sit on your counter for a few minutes before serving. This will allow the dish to solidity a bit.
- This recipe serves 8 to 10 persons. it can easily be halved .
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