• southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
    171·
    1 month ago

    Whether or not the food is shitty depends on the cheese used, no matter how shitty it looks.

    If that’s proper american cheese, it would be just cheese and something like sodium citrate, perhaps with some annatto for coloring.

    If it’s “cheese food” or “american slices”, that’s going to be shitty food.

    All mac n cheese sauce is, is cheese with an emulsifer and some extra dairy. Well, technically it’s fats with an emulsifier that then has dairy added, then cheese melted into it. But that’s nitpicking

    When it comes right down to it, if you mix some shredded processed cheese into your mac n cheese sauce, you’ll end up with compliments. You might even win prizes at local group competitions and such. You just have to check what you’re using, read the label and make sure you’re getting what you think you’re getting.

    A bechamel, the foundation of traditional mac n cheese (as opposed to box versions), serves the same role as sodium citrate, just with a different texture and some shift to the flavor profile compared to just melting cheese over pasta.

    I ain’t mad at some good process (or, rather, secondary processed) cheese slices on top. It should be better applied than that, but it has the benefit of keeping the sauce underneath from drying out, as well as being very easy to just mix in as you scoop with no appreciable change in the taste of a serving. Yeah, bread crumbs or some shredded young colby would be better, but this is a matter of execution being so poor as to draw attention.

    • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      16·
      1 month ago

      Given that it’s still square and hasn’t sunk through the pasta, imma call it and say that’s the “cheese food”.

  • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
    71·
    1 month ago

    The potassium citrate in American cheese helps real cheese melt better. You can achieve the same result with sodium citrate and an immersion blender, but not everyone has easy access to or storage for yet another spice.

      • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
        2·
        1 month ago

        Citric acid and sodium citrate are not interchangeable, unfortunately. You could create one from the other with some aqueous baking soda, but it would be best to keep the process seperate from preparing the cheese sauce.

        You can look up the Modernist Cuisine Silky Mac and Cheese recipe for more info.

        • spicy pancake@lemmy.zipEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          True, I imagine trying to use cheese as your reaction substrate in that way would result in carbonated cheese sauce :]

    • uienia@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 month ago

      I have never had any trouble melting actual cheese though when required. I have no idea what kind of scenario this kind of cheese product would be superior.

      • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 month ago

        Many hard cheeses (think parmesan) and even some cheddar cheese aged for more than 6 months don’t create a silky emulsion without some help.

  • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    1 month ago

    The actual sandwiches that place sells are going to either be shitty (because they don’t care about anything) or amazing (because everything but the sandwiches is an afterthought). There is no in-between.

  • Honytawk@lemmy.zipEnglish
    72·
    1 month ago

    So wait, you guys take macaroni and cheese literally? Like nothing more than pasta and cheese?

    I always imagined it was with bechamel sauce and ham and was just called like that.

    But they are 2 different recipes.

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
    3·
    1 month ago

    For how small Lemmy is it is incredibly odd to see my “backyard” posted here somewhat often.

    I mean yeah long island has a population in the millions but still…

    (Queens and Brooklyn you’re on long Island, there is no bridge that separates us!!)

    :P