"She boiled elbow pasta from Kraft, measured an identical amount of white cheddar cheese as was in the Kraft packet, added butter and milk, and then... “Whoa!” was the summation of her first bites."
I've done that too, with cheese powder from Amazon. It does seem incrementally better. If there's a "secret ingredient" to macaroni & cheese, it's just the cheese powder which you can readily buy by the pound, and then use for other things. Like putting it on your popcorn (add onion powder to really round it out).
The nice thing is that you end up with a lot more versatility when your cheese powder isn't confined to a Mac&Cheese container. I also like to use it as part of cheese sauces for broccoli and such. It's not a staple in my kitchen, but I probably manage to go through a pound in about 6-9 months, and it still generally tastes good even at the end.
Kraft's own cheese powder is incredibly bland by comparison with Annie's. Whenever I happen to eat Kraft mac and cheese, I am surprised by how flavorless it is, but maybe some people like it that way.
I mean, sometimes that's a feature rather than a bug. The blandness can tip the scales in favor of some fussy eater actually eating it, and makes it easier to cover up with other ingredients (butter and black pepper make anything taste better, and Kraft Dinner ain't an exception).
Fun trick: adding a pinch of salt and a pinch of MSG to most foods (that haven't already employed this trick from the factory) instantly multiplies "flavor" (for savory foods) by 2x in almost all cases.
It's sort of like the loudness trick for headphones.
Even for sweet foods, adding a pinch of salt is sometimes an insane flavor-enhancer. It doesn't just work on caramel.
saltiness is also a rough heuristic for the quality of ingredients in prepared foods (whether boxed or fresh). it’s why fast food and mass market sit-downs tend to be saltier than more expensive restaurants.
I think the formula for Kraft must be different in the UK where I grew up, vs the USA where I live now.
I have already proved that US Kit Kats (made by Reese/Hershey) have almost no chocolate smell compared to Euro Kit Kats (made by Nestlé) which have a rich cocoa aroma.
My wife and I noticed that right away and it’s nice to have confirmation. We don’t eat it all that often but it was around that time we noticed it was less flavorful. We started buying powdered cheese to add in.
The main impediment is that with a 'proper' Mac'n'Cheese you need to make a roux before adding the cheese in. Roux are somewhat above the skill level of the average cook. It's not super complex (just equal weights of flour and butter), but the timing and the heat are. Undercooked roux are a bit sour,raw, and yeasty, while over cooked roux are burnt. The time between over and undercooked can be down to only a few seconds. It takes a fair few failed roux to get right, hence it is just above the experience levels of most home cooks.
Aside: A roux is the basis of many 'creamy' sauces. Learning the skill of roux making is very much worth your time as a home cook.
If you still can't manage to get it down, try xantham gum instead. Mix it in with some oil first, then add your liquids. Again, you'll need to experiment with hydration ratios, but it's a much easier and faster method that will also work for cold dishes. It's powerful stuff, maybe a teaspoon per liter of water will thicken quite a bit.
I think this is overstated. In a starchy dish like pasta, I doubt 90% of people would notice a completely uncooked roux.
And unless you're absolutely blasting the heat, in which case most food behaves the same, there's no way for a roux to go from undercooked to burnt in a few seconds. It can take an hour to make a dark roux for gumbo.
Many people bake mac & cheese without a roux. In my experience, roux’s aren’t quite as delicate as you’re making it out to be. Cook it enough so that the flour isn’t raw, and it’ll be clear when it’s browning too far. All you gotta do is add your milk and start mixing. It maybe not common knowledge to a novice, but I don’t believe it’s particularly difficult to get right enough for mac & cheese.
They are called "pasteurized process cheese food" or "pasteurized prepared cheese product" depending on their ingredients. There are pretty specific FDA regulations on cheese naming that are presumably similar to the equivalents in the EU: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFR...
No, it's not a US thing. Cheddar melts fine, but the harder and more mature the cheese, the more the solids and oils will tend to separate and not be as super smoothly emulsified if you melt it onto noodles on its own. The point of a roux (traditional, French cheese sauces), sodium citrate (modern), or using processed cheese (American boxes, what Americans are thinking of texture-wise when they think of mac & cheese) is all to get the cheese to be very creamily emulsified. Processed cheese is just curd dregs + emulsifiers. Just melting cheese is fine but its not the same effect.
Typically I use the cheese powder as a sauce with milk and butter, and augment with "real cheese". However, cheese powder does in my experience have a stronger flavor than real cheese; if you want that super-cheesy flavor the powder is very good at it. Arguably I'm cutting the cheese powder with the real cheese.
Also, a sibling reply mentions roux. I haven't got that option myself because I'm allergic to wheat, so I'm personally stuck with "alternatives" regardless.
Because those are perishable products and I basically never just happen to have the proper cheese in the proper quantities for macaroni and cheese in the house. If I wanted to make it "from scratch" I'd have to plan ahead; my day-to-day diet has very little cheese in it.
Cheese powder, on the other hand, is non-perishable so it can always be kept on hand. It's also MUCH cheaper.
My husband swears the bulk cheese powder is not at all the same product and doesn't taste nearly as good. I've tried a couple brands (Kraft cheese powder included)
I think it's fine. Shrug
Of course, the taste changes if you use a different type of pasta, and the macaroni that comes in the box is significantly longer/straighter than the elbows you can buy in the store.
powders are a great trick for reducing costs, since you don’t pay to transport the much heavier water that makes up the bulk of the hydrated counterpart, given we already have water at home. unfortunately, many people also buy bottled water by the case, which is puzzling (a filtration system can be employed if concerned with tap water).
I've done that too, with cheese powder from Amazon. It does seem incrementally better. If there's a "secret ingredient" to macaroni & cheese, it's just the cheese powder which you can readily buy by the pound, and then use for other things. Like putting it on your popcorn (add onion powder to really round it out).
The nice thing is that you end up with a lot more versatility when your cheese powder isn't confined to a Mac&Cheese container. I also like to use it as part of cheese sauces for broccoli and such. It's not a staple in my kitchen, but I probably manage to go through a pound in about 6-9 months, and it still generally tastes good even at the end.