The evolution of Mac & Cheese and How it explains where we are in America

[lariat]

Ramen noodles straight out of the wrapper, dry. Meal on the go. Once it gets down in the stomach it’ll swell up on its own.

Or crush the entire bag into a coffee cup, put in the favor packet, fill with water and nuke it for 2 mins. Fast and done.

 

[MtnCreek]

You rich fucks and your store bought food...

 

[MtnCreek]

You want some really good Poors Food?

Irish tators, peeled and sliced ~1" in a large pot. Just cover with water.
Cover and slow boil til done.
Lightly mash with water, leaving some pieces whole.
Add butter and sweet milk (aka milk) to make soup.
Can serve topped w/ chopped bacon and shredded cheese. I like chopped green onions.
Cornbread Required!

 

[rjacobs]

Ramen noodles.
Cook them in the water. Drain the water. Then add flavor packet. SO MUCH BETTER!!

my mom used to make spaghetti then put whatever butter substance was in the fridge on it.

DRAIN THE WATER... WHAT...

Best way to cook ramen(even cheap ramen) is to bring the water to a boil, add the spice packet, let it mix with the water for a minute or so, then add your noodles and break them up a bit for 1 minute. Then crack an egg into the boil and throw a lid on it for 3 minutes(you are aiming for a soft boiled egg). Do not stir it except gently, you dont want to break the egg. Then pour the whole mix into a bowl. I usually add frozen meat balls(microwave for a minute to heat them up).

My wife and I eat a lot of "ramen" type noodles from cheap to "expensive"...

Nongshim ramen is some of the best. Its Korean Ramen.

Korean vs. Japanese ramen is a whole nother conversation. Even in a restaurant Korean ramen is cooked with dry blocks of noodles. Japanese ramen is cooked with fresh made ramen.

 

[salks]

I was pretty poor when I was a kid. My mom would make tuna noodle caserul. I think it was noodles ,cream of mushroom soup, and tuna. It was awful but thats what there was. To this day I hate mushrooms and tuna.

 

[Davo308]

I dated a woman that didn't do much cooking.
She loved tuna sandwiches. Many times she offered one to me but I let her know that canned tuna was not on my list of things to eat.

I'll eat sashimi and other sushi type tuna, and I love grilled FRESH tuna.
She was meah about it.

Anyway, the one and only time she ever "cooked" for me she made tuna helper. WTF??

Tuna curry is pretty good.

 

[Davo308]

I was pretty poor when I was a kid. My mom would make tuna noodle caserul. I think it was noodles ,cream of mushroom soup, and tuna. It was awful but thats what there was. To this day I hate mushrooms and tuna.

We had that a lot growing up. Tuna noodle casserole and also tater tot casserole.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Tuna curry is pretty good.

Oooh, ummmm, nope.
Not enough of either to hide the taste of the other.

It's either fresh tuna, or no tuna.
Never acquired the taste for curry.

 

[Waorani]

I was pretty poor when I was a kid. My mom would make tuna noodle caserul. I think it was noodles ,cream of mushroom soup, and tuna. It was awful but thats what there was. To this day I hate mushrooms and tuna.

My mom added a can of corn. Never realized how poor we were until I got older.

 

[Texasflyer]

I grew up in the 90's. We were pretty poor, oil feild trash some would say. Trailer house and dirt road living. My mother would never have just made mac and cheese.... always it has been a side dish. Our family is poor but we cook, and then we cook the left overs another way till its gone. If we have brisquet today, its gonna be hash tomarrow... favorite meal ever paired with moms day old potato salad. I watch alton brown, know how to cook fajitas on the coals ala dinner theater. But i never felt a reason to change the way my family has always cooked. Since i was a kid we all kinda helped out and thats how ya learned to cook. Ive eaten at friends houses though and boxed anything is the factory ammo of the food world.

 

[x2cross]

tl;dr. ........Ever had Hamburger Helper Stroganoff ? Oh My God. Heavenly !!!

I made Venison Stroganoff w/ Potatoes Helper this weekend. It was delicious!

 

[TmisterE]

I always loved one of my Ma's favorite suppers bread and gravy, a couple pieces of crumbled homemade bread and plenty of hamburger gravy, or any gravy left over from Sunday dinner.

 

[theLBC]

I always loved one of my Ma's favorite suppers bread and gravy, a couple pieces of crumbled homemade bread and plenty of hamburger gravy, or any gravy left over from Sunday dinner.

i never had it as a kid, but i used to go to a restaurant (mom's kitchen) with my boss to get shit on a shingle for breakfast (chipped beef on toast).

my mom had some "chopped" type meals that she just put together because that was all she had, and we still make some of them even though she passed was i was 12, which was 45 years ago...
we call this "japanese hamburger" because there wasn't really a name for it.
ground beef
canned stewed whole peeled tomatoes (crushed with the juice)
green onions
soy sauce and ground pepper.

of course this was served with the ever present calrose white rice.
i have nothing really good to say about it, other than it fills your belly and better than nothing.

/she made awesome spaghetti sauce when she had everything, having learned from italian ladies at church.

 

[Strykervet]

Oh D, and here I’ve been trying to pimp your case lube wherever possible. Now, you go trashing my Culinary tastes......
Gawd, what am I gonna do ?
I still stand by my statement about H/H Stroganoff. Do we need to have a duel to settle this ?
Fuk it, you’d just show up with Ma Duece and splatter me all over the back wall.

To hell with it......H/H Stroganoff Rocks, take your best shot

Hey, it's just me probably! I used to LOVE that stuff --it was my favorite. But sometimes, mostly with packaged stuff, I'll be fine and then one day I'll taste something specific, and that ruins it. I just can't enjoy it anymore. My tastes have shifted a LOT in the last decade though, I used to like everything but no so much now. It really sucks. Makes an MOS out of figuring out dinner. I wandered around Safeway with a hand cart for an hour yesterday and walked out with nothing so that tells you something.

I still remember what you did in Seattle with that murdering shitbag though, you're honest to goodness hero material, so I'd rather have you on my side any day and if that means we gotta eat H/H then so be it --at least it's not black bean burrito MRE's (don't tell me you like THAT one too?).

 

[Dingodog]

Ate it as a meal when I was a poor. A box is cheap And I was single. Throw in a can of tuna and now it is tuna casserole. Grew up poor, dad made money, went out on my own and was really poor for years. Certain meals and food I don’t eat because I was poor and struggling. Don‘t need to relive harder parts of my life.

 

[TmisterE]

My Ma always put together some kind of casserole for suppers but my favorite was always bread and gravy, except on Sunday we always had Sunday Dinner, not really dinner it was in the middle of the day around 2-3 in the afternoon. Ma would come home from church and cook Sunday Dinner, always our big meal of the week, and use leftovers for weeknight suppers.

 

[Waco Kid]

Am I the only one whose mom fried SPAM to go with mac n cheese? Might sound kinda backwoods but it actually makes a pretty good meal haha. We weren't dirt poor but my parents struggled a bit when I was a kid, mom cooked nearly every meal we ate. I'm old enough to have grown up with parents that still played the eat it or go to bed hungry stand off! I remember one time saying I don't want that and dad telling me well it's that or nothing. After 30 minutes or so I got hungry enough to give in, never told them I didn't want what was on my plate ever again! My friends kids are so picky they'll only eat chicken nuggets or some other bullshit like that, I told them to give them the eat what we got or go hungry ultimatem and that shit would stop! They don't have the heart to do it, their kids are gonna grow up to be pansies

 

[TmisterE]

I ate a lot of spam growing up, nothing like fried spam, still eat it to this day have a couple cans in the cupboard all the time.

 

[Davo308]

Am I the only one whose mom fried SPAM to go with mac n cheese? Might sound kinda backwoods but it actually makes a pretty good meal haha. We weren't dirt poor but my parents struggled a bit when I was a kid, mom cooked nearly every meal we ate. I'm old enough to have grown up with parents that still played the eat it or go to bed hungry stand off! I remember one time saying I don't want that and dad telling me well it's that or nothing. After 30 minutes or so I got hungry enough to give in, never told them I didn't want what was on my plate ever again! My friends kids are so picky they'll only eat chicken nuggets or some other bullshit like that, I told them to give them the eat what we got or go hungry ultimatem and that shit would stop! They don't have the heart to do it, their kids are gonna grow up to be pansies

My mom would chop up kielbasa or hot dog.

 

[Threadcutter308]

Hey, it's just me probably! I used to LOVE that stuff --it was my favorite. But sometimes, mostly with packaged stuff, I'll be fine and then one day I'll taste something specific, and that ruins it. I just can't enjoy it anymore. My tastes have shifted a LOT in the last decade though, I used to like everything but no so much now. It really sucks. Makes an MOS out of figuring out dinner. I wandered around Safeway with a hand cart for an hour yesterday and walked out with nothing so that tells you something.

I still remember what you did in Seattle with that murdering shitbag though, you're honest to goodness hero material, so I'd rather have you on my side any day and if that means we gotta eat H/H then so be it --at least it's not black bean burrito MRE's (don't tell me you like THAT one too?).

D; Lets see, working backwards and skipping 1 until the last....

No on "Black Bean" anything. HOWEVER......Those cheap Jack in the Box Tacos are the shizzle. Fiddy Cents apiece ? Geddoutta here !

I've never had a turd chiseled out of me and I've only recently started thinking about it, no thanks to certain members of the Hide......

And, most importantly. That guy that you feel is a Hero ? Please continue to believe that. But........that wasn't me. Taking credit for that is akin to Stolen Valor to me. I just want to set the record straight......

Anyway, I'm just funnin' you all the way around and I'm not taking any of it seriously (but H/H Stroganoff still Rocks!)

Take care, and Your CASE LUBE ROCKS !!!!

 

[Threadcutter308]

I ate a lot of spam growing up, nothing like fried spam, still eat it to this day have a couple cans in the cupboard all the time.

No particular reason, but we never really had Spam around in the house. I've had it a few times and there's nothing surprising about it. I wouldn't make it a regular staple, but could I eat it to stay alive ? Hell yes, without question.

Would I attempt to make Culinary Delights with it ? No......I'd start by using something of better quality. However, "Culinary Delights" aren't served very frequently around these parts.

 

[Texasflyer]

So nobody is gonna mention that shit on a shingle is supposed to be biscuits and sausage gravy. Chipped beef? Reminds me of when i went to pennsylvania to work and ordered a chopped bbq pork sandwich... what i got was chopped up deli sliced ham covered in ketchup.

 

[Herb Stoner]

bechamel

Mac & Cheese goes Roux -> Bechamel -> Mornay -> add to pasta and finish in the oven.
Its about as easy as it gets and a one pot deal (plus a pot for the pasta). that goes pretty quick. Make it often with various blends of complementary cheeses.
Someone mentioned Beechers - great cheeses that are around our houses quite a bit. I haven't had the frozen pre-made mac & cheese from them but use their Flagship in Mac & Cheese often.
I like a little darker roux and if you want you can sub out the fat in the roux for bacon or rendered fat from short ribs, etc. for something different. Always whole milk and some heavy cream for the Bechamel. Make it any way you want - add some cauliflower or broccoli - a little shredded pork or short rib if that's your thing - a topping with panko and herbs - or not.

I fully agree on the comment about reconstituted vomit - all the box stuff is that to some extent.

 

[Mike Casselton]

So nobody is gonna mention that shit on a shingle is supposed to be biscuits and sausage gravy. Chipped beef? Reminds me of when i went to pennsylvania to work and ordered a chopped bbq pork sandwich... what i got was chopped up deli sliced ham covered in ketchup.

Not biscuits. It's actually on white bread toast.

Hence, the shingle part.

Most of it needs hot sauce to cover up the shitty canned gravy.

 

[Texasflyer]

Not biscuits. It's actually on white bread toast.

Hence, the shingle part.

Most of it needs hot sauce to cover up the shitty canned gravy.

I live in the south where biscuits are the norm. But i do get to colloquial similarities. Sure it started on bread.... but biscuits.... just better every time.

 

[yakstone]

Both parents worked. Mom was a nurse and worked 12 hr shifts. Dad drove into the city and worked an office job as a minion. With traffic he was gone from 6am to 6, 7, 8pm. We had an OLD lady for a sitter / caretaker. Banquet pot pies I remember were 5 for $1 back then. The sitter would collect the box ends and mail them in for "points" of some kind, same with the Banquet TV dinners. I had 3 younger brothers back then and I was only 6. WE lived on those oven ready Banquet boxed meals back then. When I turned 9 I was made the caretaker so that we could cut some expenses. Then Mom would cook during the day while I was at school and leave me a list of how to finish or reheat the meal for my brothers and I. I remember a lot of hamburger helper type meals and then tuna helper. Back then canned tuna was 15 - 20 cents a can and made for a cheap casserole. I remember the extenders, canned peas, corn etc. Sounds like lots of us were raised the same way during the 60s. Kids now-a-days don't appreciate food. Let 'em get hungry enough and see what happens.

 

[Texasflyer]

I still feel like meat loaf without crackers or bread crumbs is a total ripoff. Sure sometimes things are extenders, but sometimes they are ingredients and ya just dont notice until they arent there.

 

[Stevo86]

I remember as a kid eating lots of potatoes cooked every way possible and ground turkey.....

 

[Mike Casselton]

I live in the south where biscuits are the norm. But i do get to colloquial similarities. Sure it started on bread.... but biscuits.... just better every time.

Betcha I live further south than you do, and I'm gonna say I prolly have a ton more Irish hillbilly in me.

Hell, my ancestors kilt a few people because of a disagreement over a pig.

Biscuits are almost always better than toast.
If gravy is involved, it's a no brainer.

 

[Texasflyer]

Betcha I live further south than you do, and I'm gonna say I prolly have a ton more Irish hillbilly in me.

Hell, my ancestors kilt a few people because of a disagreement over a pig.

Biscuits are almost always better than toast.
If gravy is involved, it's a no brainer.

Maybe further south, but i got ya on irish hillbilly bud. My great great great uncle was wild bill longley.

 

[TmisterE]

I still feel like meat loaf without crackers or bread crumbs is a total ripoff. Sure sometimes things are extenders, but sometimes they are ingredients and ya just dont notice until they arent there.

Meatloaf has to have some filler my Ma used oatmeal and was so good I still make it this way lots of onion and oatmeal. We never had hamburger helper when I was growing up in the 50's-60's don't think it was released until the 70's didn't really like it anyway. Ma taught me and all my brothers and sisters to cook she always said none of my kids are going to starve to death.

 

[theLBC]

Meatloaf has to have some filler my Ma used oatmeal and was so good I still make it this way lots of onion and oatmeal. We never had hamburger helper when I was growing up in the 50's-60's don't think it was released until the 70's didn't really like it anyway. Ma taught me and all my brothers and sisters to cook she always said none of my kids are going to starve to death.

breadcrumbs, crackers or oatmeal acts as a binder and also helps with texture so it isn't a hard chunk of hamburger, since meatloaf is usually cooked pretty well done.
it is the ketchup top that is the best part, and if i made it more often i would prolly try making it flatter so there is more of the good stuff.
a buddy's mom used to put hard boiled eggs in the middle, but not interested...

 

[Texasflyer]

breadcrumbs, crackers or oatmeal acts as a binder and also helps with texture so it isn't a hard chunk of hamburger, since meatloaf is usually cooked pretty well done.
it is the ketchup top that is the best part, and if i made it more often i would prolly try making it flatter so there is more of the good stuff.
a buddy's mom used to put hard boiled eggs in the middle, but not interested...

See... this is where i get the mac and cheese thing. When we started being decently middle class my mom would make this horrible solid meat cube loaf... like yeah we have the money for just meat but damn... if something isnt broken you shouldnt mess with it. Sometimes meat cube loaf with cheese center which was better but not good.... the best was when she would stretch it out with like a whole sleeve of crackers and you could see little white bits in it.... i havent thought about that in forever but it taught me tons about who i am and what being better off really is.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Maybe further south, but i got ya on irish hillbilly bud. My great great great uncle was wild bill longley.

Mebbe not. Hatfield here.
Hell, our ancestors might be kin.

 

[Mike Casselton]

breadcrumbs, crackers or oatmeal acts as a binder and also helps with texture so it isn't a hard chunk of hamburger, since meatloaf is usually cooked pretty well done.
it is the ketchup top that is the best part, and if i made it more often i would prolly try making it flatter so there is more of the good stuff.
a buddy's mom used to put hard boiled eggs in the middle, but not interested...

Try it with adobo seasoning and stuff it with big assed queen olives.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Use the beef, lamb, pork combination

 

[Texasflyer]

Mebbe not. Hatfield here.
Hell, our ancestors might be kin.

I wouldnt doubt it. If not in blood probably in spirit at least.

 

[theLBC]

Use the beef, lamb, pork combination

i have made it mostly with ground beef and breakfast sausage.

fuck, now i want a roasted lamb shank.

 

[uffduh]

it is the ketchup top that is the best part, and if i made it more often i would prolly try making it flatter so there is more of the good stuff.

Strips of bacon top of the ketchup on a really good week!

Ate so much tuna casserole as a kid, I couldn’t even be around the cold variety my kids got to like while in the UK. They still ask for it, taught them to make it themselves.

Cowboy beef and smashed potatoes was a favorite school lunch. Or the rectangular sheet pan pizza with thousand island dressing on top.

Never liked thin bone in pork chops with mushroom soup...but I did eat it...starving children in Africa and all.

Hungry Man Salisbury steak TV dinners were a massive treat!

And it was years before I figured out that McDonalds or whatever it was didn’t sell hot dogs wrapped in tin foil, nor two liter bottles of soda. Mom would buy a couple things of fries for all to share and we’d eat in the car. Worked for me.

 

[theLBC]

Strips of bacon top of the ketchup on a really good week!

Ate so much tuna casserole as a kid, I couldn’t even be around the cold variety my kids got to like while in the UK. They still ask for it, taught them to make it themselves.

Cowboy beef and smashed potatoes was a favorite school lunch. Or the rectangular sheet pan pizza with thousand island dressing on top.

Never liked thin bone in pork chops with mushroom soup...but I did eat it...starving children in Africa and all.

Hungry Man Salisbury steak TV dinners were a massive treat!

And it was years before I figured out that McDonalds or whatever it was didn’t sell hot dogs wrapped in tin foil, nor two liter bottles of soda. Mom would buy a couple things of fries for all to share and we’d eat in the car. Worked for me.

if i had a field trip for school when i was little, my mom would take me to the store and let me pick hostess cupcakes or twinkies so i would not look so poor when i had to eat with all the other kids.
little did she know that i could trade her riceballs* for almost anything once other kids tried them.

*seasoned rice with baby salt plum in the center, wrapped in seaweed.

 

[uffduh]

if i had a field trip for school when i was little, my mom would take me to the store and let me pick hostess cupcakes or twinkies so i would not look so poor when i had to eat with all the other kids.
little did she know that i could trade her riceballs* for almost anything once other kids tried them.

*seasoned rice with baby salt plum in the center, wrapped in seaweed.

Never liked hostess products, would have been all over those rice balls, though!

 

[theLBC]

Never liked hostess products, would have been all over those rice balls, though!

we had a dolly madison bakery outlet nearby that sold day old bread and snacks nearing their expiration.
this is all stuff picked up by their drivers daily on their rotations or routes.

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Ramen noodles.
Cook them in the water. Drain the water. Then add flavor packet. SO MUCH BETTER!!

my mom used to make spaghetti then put whatever butter substance was in the fridge on it.

You are possibly kin to me.
Next time. Leave just a dab of water, maybe two tablespoons. Stir in a raw egg with chopsticks.
Puts a Sunday shirt on a bowl of Ramen.
Also, I always cook and eat Ramen using chopsticks.

 

[Jim Out]

I’ll admit I still eat hamburger helper. Made it w elk last time. The Mac n cheese kind. Cause I’m a horrible person.

 

[Foul Mike]

I think Spam was ruined for a lot of WW II Vets due to how much they ate it while overseas.
My Dad would not allow that "Shit" in our house. Took a few years for them to get over it and some, like my Dad never did.

 

[theLBC]

I think Spam was ruined for a lot of WW II Vets due to how much they ate it while overseas.
My Dad would not allow that "Shit" in our house. Took a few years for them to get over it and some, like my Dad never did.

my dad would not eat liver because he said his unit in korea somehow got stuck with nothing but liver rations (and anything they could "find").
in our house, you had to eat whatever was cooked, this being the one exception.
we only had liver at all because my dad could save money buying half a cow from center meat in santa ana putting it in a freezer in the garage.

 

[D̷e̷v̷i̷l̷D̷o̷c̷A̷Z̷]

Blame @Colt250 for this being back at the top.

 

[acudaowner]

liked it sort of as a kid less and less as I got older . I do enjoy making our own mac and cheese home style not a big fan of boxes food . spam might be an exception

 

[n2ishun]

Y'all don't know a thing about growing up dirt poor.

You had food.

'Nuff said ?

 

[Colt250]

Blame @Colt250 for this being back at the top.

I apologize lol. I'm blaming the similar threads list at the bottom and the rediculous title, I sure didn't come here looking for this but I just couldn't help finding out what it was all about.