Homemade Southern Mac & Cheese

This is my absolute favorite mac & cheese recipe. It's really easy and it's been in the family for generations. Literally. This is the recipe my husband's grandma, Vernie Mae used (when she was still able to cook) and it came from her aunt. Grandma told us that people would always ask her aunt to bring a mac & cheese when they had get togethers or pot lucks. Her aunt would always reply "Y'all could make some good mac & cheese too if you weren't too cheap to put some cheese in it!"(Make sure you use your best southern accent when you read this) Gotta love the older generation, right?

So the recipe made it's way down to grandma, then down to my mother-in-law, Diane and when I married Curtis I inherited this awesome recipe and now I am in charge of bringing the mac & cheese at get togethers. I swear people will come up to me and ask "Now, which one did you bring?" before they get to the food table to make sure they get some of the goodness.

This recipe is easily doubled for bigger parties and it's so easy that I don't even need to look at the recipe anymore. It's all in the old noggin' and it's been engraved there forever. So now that I've talked this recipe up more than a Star Wars movie, are you ready for the ultimate mac & cheese recipe that will change your life forever? (I know, I just can't stop myself. It's that good.)

What you will need:

2 Cups of uncooked elbow macaroni
1 Tbsp. of salt
1-2 Tbsp. of butter or margarine
4 Cups of sharp cheddar cheese (This is very important, get the sharp, not mild)
2 eggs
2 Cups of milk (I use skim because that's what we drink, but the higher the fat content the better the end result is. Skim= awesome, Full fat Vitamin D= Dear Margaret, I'm going into food coma)

Set your oven at 350
In a large pot add water to boil the macaroni and add your salt. I just eye ball it and swirl my big salt dispenser quickly around once. Cover, set on high, and wait for the boiling to commence. Once boiling, add your macaroni and cook your macaroni according to package. Now I like to over cook just a little bit the macaroni. You want a nice soft noodle, not al dente.

When your macaroni is done, drain and rise, then add your butter. Stir it around until it's all melted. Then grab a 9X13 pyrex and layer about half of the macaroni on the bottom. Take 2 cups of cheese and layer that on top. Then repeat with the rest of macaroni and the rest of the cheese. In a 2 cup measuring cup beat the 2 eggs, then add the milk to it until it reads a little above the 2 cups mark. (Since the eggs are in it you have to over compensate a little.) You don't have to be exact, just a round about measuring is fine. Stir that together and pour all over the macaroni and cheese layers.

Now's the important part. Bake the mac & cheese for about 10 minutes and stir it around. The cheese is gonna be melted and the milk is still flopping around so the first stir is always the trickiest. Stir it around the best you can until all the cheese is mostly broken up. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes and stir that sucker again. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes and stir again. (Redundant, I know, but it's very important to stir, stir, stir if you want the right consistency) Usually a total of 30 minutes of baking time does the trick, but sometimes you have to return it to the oven for just 5-10 minutes more to get what you need. The consistency should still be gooey, but not too gooey. Does that make any sense? But you don't want to leave it in there too long and have it dried out either. It's a work of art really. Serve warm. MMMMMM! That right there, is the definition of smack your mama good.

Ok, so here what you need!

Salt that water! See the ring of salt that I poured in? Eye ball it, baby.

2 cups of macaroni ready to go in.

Boil them, boil them real good. Me and my husband have this expression is that we boil the snot out of them. I know it sounds gross, but he's a southern boy and he introduced me to it. Then somehow I started saying it too.

Add your butter after you quickly rinsed. You don't want to cool down your noodles too much or it'll take forever for the butter to melt. I just stir it around until the butter disappears.

Layer macaroni and the cheese with macaroni first and end with cheese.

That's my egg/milk mixture. I beat the eggs first and then added the milk. See how I went just above the 2 cup mark? That's how it should be.

Pour it ALL over the macaroni. I mean zig zag all over it. Up, down, left, right, whatever. Just make sure you pour all over.

After the 1st 10 minutes. Looks gross, right? Don't you worry, it'll get better.

Stir it. I know it doesn't look any better, but hold on a sec.

After the 2nd 10 minutes. Still...ewww. So Stir!

Better, but no dice. Return to the oven.

After the 3rd 10 minutes. Oh yea, now it's looking like something. Stir it!

And that my friends is perfection. The milky ooey gooey is gone and it has created some small curds. The texture is perfect! Resist all temptation to eat it right away because it is hot as lava. I would advise to wait about 5 minutes, if you can wait that long. I never can. :)