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03/06/2001 Archived Entry: "Suzanne Hamlin's Macaroni and Cheese"

This could be the mother of macaroni and cheese recipes. Suzanne Hamlin, who I called “Brenda Starr Food Reporter” when I was the food editor of the New York Daily News and she and I used to work, as we liked to joke, “tush to tush,” came up with it in 1979. Suzanne and I are still good friends and when I had a hankering for this particular version of mac and cheese, and I couldn’t find it in my files, I called her to get it. Both of us live under the rule that you can never have too many mac and cheese recipes, and Suzanne had moved on to others and had lost track of the recipe, too.

I was willing to let it go, although the clever, easy method of it, mixing all the ingredients together in the pan and slipping it in the oven to blend into a creamy mass with nothing but a stir or two, remained incredibly appealing.

Then I was reading the recently re-issued Square Meals: America’s Favorite Comfort Food Cookbook, which was written by my friends Michael and Jane Stern in 1984. Their “School Cafeteria Macaroni and Cheese” used the same method, but I recognized the ingredients as being slightly different than Suzanne’s. The Sterns say their recipe is from “a home ec textbook, ‘Adventuring in Home Living,’ a 1959 guide for teens that covers everything from problem perspiration to making popcorn balls.”

Then I went to the theater and bumped into Jeanne Lessem, who was for many years the food editor of United Press International (UPI), the venerable news agency. Jeanne is retired now – she doesn’t look a day over 60 but she is looking better than ever at 80. She is supposed to be watching her fat intake, but, unprompted by me, she said she was craving that particular macaroni and cheese recipe and would I send it to her. She believed it ran in a column I used to write for the Daily News magazine, “Sundays in the Kitchen with Arthur.”

I didn’t think that was correct, but obviously, Suzanne’s recipe had to be found. It was in the air. I put the pressure on and sure enough several days later Hamlin managed to find it.

Telling this story to some women friends last Saturday night, by way of explaining why I was making macaroni and cheese on Sunday, they swooned with nostalgia. That was the very recipe they learned in home economics class in school.

Actually, Suzanne’s version, which she admits was probably inspired by one she read in an old cookbook, is slightly and brilliantly different, as I mentioned previously. The original home ec version doesn’t have minced onion, and Suzanne uses Parmigiano-Reggiano for a portion of the cheese. These changes elevate the dish into a much higher realm. Of course, Parmigiano-Reggiano would never have been specified prior to the 1980s. Indeed, any cheese combo can be used. It doesn’t have to be American cheese or cheddar, as would be used in an all-American macaroni and cheese casserole. Or Velveeta, as the Sterns suggest for a “blander” version.

Suzanne and I once cooked a dinner to benefit the New York Public Library at the home of James Hoge, the then publisher of the New York Daily News. “Extra, Extra, Eat All About It: Fine Food From the Five Boroughs” is what we called the menu, and I remember using some sort of exotic cheese and fresh herbs to upscale the dish. The other night I used a Welsh-style cheese called Caerphilly made by the Cato Corner Farm in Colchester, Connecticut, which I buy at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket – plus Parmigiano. As Suzanne says, you can use bits and pieces of cheese that you have hanging around the refrigerator. I am tempted to make a 100 percent Parmigiano-Reggiano version, as I have an over-supply of extraordinary Parmigiano in the refrigerator right now.

For a less rich version, you can also use half diced canned tomatoes and half cheese. I did that last night and it was an excellent casserole, too. Interestingly, Horn and Hadart’s recipe for macaroni and cheese, which you also can find on this web-site, uses a bit of tomato. I wonder if that didn’t come from an old, standard home economist’s recipe.

As for macaroni shapes, Suzanne used to specify the smallest size of elbows, but in my recent testing of the recipe I used my Neapolitan pasta mista, mixed shapes, to great effect. Suzanne now tells me she has taken to making it with penne, or any tubular macaroni. Still, I wouldn’t used really big tubes, like rigatoni. Spaghetti might be very good, though.


Suzanne Hamlin’s Macaroni and Cheese
Serves 4

1/2 pound macaroni: elbows, ziti, penne, or mixed shapes
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup finely minced onion (mince 1/8-inch or smaller is best)
2 cups shredded or chopped firm cheese or 1 cup cheese and 1 cup coarsely chopped canned tomatoes
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (see note)
1 cup whole milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
Several turns of the pepper mill
1 additional tablespoon butter (optional)
3 to 4 tablespoons fine dry breadcrumbs (optional)
1/4 cup additional grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)

Bring several quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add a tablespoon of salt. Boil macaroni until just tender. Drain well.

Immediately turn the macaroni into a shallow 6-cup casserole, preferably one that can go under the broiler later. (I use an oval copper gratin dish.) Toss the macaroni with the butter.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix very well.

Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes, then again after 30 minutes. If, after 30 minutes, there is still some milk at the bottom of the pan, return to the oven for another 5 minutes. (When stirring, make sure to remove the pan from the oven and close the oven door so it will retain its heat. Do not keep the oven open while stirring.)

If you would like a crust on top, melt the additional tablespoon of butter and mix in the breadcrumbs and cheese. Sprinkle over top of casserole and place under the broiler for a minute or more, until the top has browned. Or, alternately, use only the extra grated cheese, or only the butter and breadcrumbs.

Note: If using a so-called microplane for grating cheese, increase the amount to 3/4 cup loosely packed. Microplanes creates a fluffy product that is three times the volume of cheese grated on a traditional tool.