Upgrade Your Mac Boxed With Cheese Stew
I have an exact method for making a box of pasta and cheese: I boil the water, cook the pasta for a couple of minutes without following the instructions on the package, drain the water, then return the noodles to the pan and add the butter, stirring occasionally, to melt over the Mac. Then I sprinkle on the cheese powder and stir again to dissolve as much of it in the ghee. Then I splash in only half and half enough to dissolve all the remaining curd cheese powder, never fully called on the box, because I don’t like the whiny mac.
But last night due to a distracting headache, I added butter to a very hot skillet before the drained noodles. It foams and splashes heavily, as is usually the case with oil when it gets hot, right before it starts to brown. I decided to use this “mistake” to my advantage and twirled the butter as it continued to sizzle and foam until I noticed a distinctly nutty smell and the butter took on a deep golden brown hue. I scraped off a few of the solids that had stuck to the bottom with a spatula, then added the pasta noodles that had been patiently waiting in a colander, along with the cheese powder and a few splashes of half and half.
I’m happy to say this was the best craft pot I have ever made. The rich, nutty flavor of the toasted butter was the perfect counterbalance to the factory-made spicy cheese, making the whole thing much less “artificial” and a little more homey. The browning of the oil made its aroma more pronounced, shifting it from the background to the front, without completely obscuring the bright orange powder. She was no longer a chorus girl, but became a film partner.
Kraft is my handy pasta, but you can add toasted butter to any brand (like Annie’s or Trader Joe’s) and you can really add it to shells, spirals, or any packaged pasta. It makes your Mac more enjoyable without requiring much effort, and my friends, this is my favorite type of jailbreak.