<p>I have to make a mac and cheese dish for a large number of people. I want to make it 5 days before the actual dinner. At what step should I stop and refrigerate the dish? Should I make the dish completely and just reheat it just before serving? Should I stop at the step just before baking refrigerate it - and actually bake the dish just before serving? TIA</p>
<p>stouffers makes wonderful mac and cheese …') </p>
<p>in giant tubs…
</p>
<p>Not very expensive either…
</p>
<p>just a suggestion.</p>
<p>Thanks Opie, Ill take you suggestion under advisement. :)</p>
<p>And then there’s Kraft mac and cheese! :D</p>
<p>Kidding aside, Kraft is the only mac and cheese I have ever made and have never made the homemade variety. Also, my mac and cheese days are over once my kids ventured into eating good food which I am fortunate to be able to say happened at a young age, unlike some kids whose mainstay is mac and cheese for years. Sorry I can’t help!</p>
<p>“And then there’s Kraft mac and cheese”</p>
<p>oR AS we like to call it Kraft dinner…</p>
<p>If I had a million dollars, I buy you kraft dinners… </p>
<p>My favorite group bnl ( bare necked ladies) </p>
<p>a song you can’t help but sing along to…</p>
<p>Well, cooked pasta doesn’t generally hold up well for 5 days in the fridge. I would say two is the max but I would really just make it the morning of the event. This really just means cooking up the pasta until almost done, sticking in lots of cheese chunks (this is the stage you can refridgerate at) and baking when you are ready. Don’t really remember…have not cooked this in years. I don’t think it holds up as well frozen either without specially formulated pasta and chemicals.</p>
<p>I love stouffers…and hope to never see a blue box of Kraft grace my kitchen again. Stouffers is just so deliciously bad for you.</p>
<p>I have become a big fan of low carb white pasta. Dreamfields I think is the name. 5 grams digestable carbs a serving and it tastes as good as normal pasta and doesn’t wreck havoc on your blood sugar. Whole wheat pasta takes some getting used to but I can’t imagine most people falling for the brown color and tougher texture in their mac and cheese.</p>
<p>Have fun at your event. If you do Stouffers make sure you leave enough time to bake it. I think it takes awhile. Like Sooze this dish (sadly) hasn’t been seen in my kitchen in years.</p>
<p>They had a woman on the View yesterday making the world’s best mac and cheese. Seven cheeses, cream, butter, etc. Looked pretty darn good. Recipe is on the View website.</p>
<p>I would definitely not make it in advance, and certainly not five days ahead of time! Sauce dries out, pasta gets hard, not good at all. If you cannot make it the day of the dinner just buy some–Stouffers is good but needs teo be keot frozen until ready to heat for immediate eating. You can usually also buy decent mac and cheese at the prepared food counter of stores like Whole Foods–probably also southern chains like Harris Teeter. Don’t know about other supermarkets. </p>
<p>If you do decide to make some on the day itself, see the recipe in Fanny Farmer–you can multiply it and bakein a large container, or just make several batches, using smaller disposable foil baking containers. It is a very simple cheddar-based recipe. But it is at its best when just out of the oven, and barely worth eating after day 2.</p>
<p>Do you need to make it in advance for convenience sake? If so…look for a recipe you can make in your crock pot. I have a 6 quart crock pot and I’ve made mac and cheese in that…and it feeds a crowd. If I need the food in the morning, I put it in the crock pot at night. If I need it for the afternoon/evening, I start it in the morning. It’s nice also, because you have a “vessel” to transport the food and a way to keep it warm once you get there (assuming there is power). Mac and cheese cold is yucky, in my opinion.</p>
<p>[on</a> a totally different wavelenght than box-very addictive](<a href=“http://www.beechershandmadecheese.com/shop_macncheese.html]on”>http://www.beechershandmadecheese.com/shop_macncheese.html)</p>
<p>but if you go for making your own= you could make the cheese sauce in advance- then the morning of event, make the noodles and put them together into the oven</p>
<p>I’m surprised that people have a hard time keeping pasta in the fridge. I just toss it in a little olive oil and it either refrigerates or freezes very well that way. </p>
<p>If I were doing mac and cheese and had the room, I’d freeze batches of mac and cheese and slow bake them the day they are needed. If frozen, let it sit in the fridge overnight, then on the counter a couple of hours before baking. Tent foil over the baking pans, and be sure to add a little water now and then to keep the mac and cheese from drying out. Plan on at least 1.5 hours at 300 if it’s a big refrigerated pan.</p>
<p>When my neighbor had a funeral dinner at her house, I had to bake one pan of scalloped potatoes - a pan that filled my oven. It took forever, so allow plenty of time. It will hold in an oven on warm for hours, if watched.</p>
<p>3bm103, could you post that website? Google couldn’t find it for me. Got a mac and cheese lover here.</p>
<p>I just googled the view, clicked on recaps and it came up at the very bottom. It certainly has a lot of butter. With all that cheese and half and half, I would think the butter would be superfluous. Probably tastes good though.</p>
<p>I must say (im)modestly that I have the world’s best mac and cheese recipe–plenty of calories but I don’t make it often and my kids LOVE it. At the risk of showing off, here it is:</p>
<pre><code>Classic Macaroni & Cheese
</code></pre>
<p>1 lb. Elbow macaroni
12 T unsalted butter (I used 9; it was fine)
6 T. flour
½ medium onion, sliced thin
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme
9 black peppercorns
4 ½ cups milk
2 t. salt
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
pinch nutmeg
6 cups finely shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 ¼ cups coarse bread crumbs
2 T. unsalted butter, melted</p>
<p>Heat the oven to 375 degrees and butter a 9 X13 inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the elbows; cook until just tender following the package’s directions and drain well. Melt the butter in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat.</p>
<p>Add the flour, onion, bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns; cook over medium low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk the milk into the roux until thoroughly combined. Raise the heat to medium high; whisk constantly until the mixture boils. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Lower the heat and continue simmering for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.</p>
<p>Strain the sauce into a large bowl, removing the onion, herbs and peppercorns. Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg and shredded cheese, stirring until the cheese is just melted. Toss the pasta with the cheese sauce and pour the mixture into the baking dish. Toss the breadcrumbs with the melted butter and spread them over the casserole. Bake until sizzling and lightly browned on top (cover with foil if the top browns too quickly), about 40 minutes.</p>
<p>Serves 6 to 8.</p>
<p>Here’s another, tried and true, very good: (from Mimi’s Cyber-kitchen [the comments are hers, not mine])</p>
<p>Baked Macaroni and Cheese</p>
<p>Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Believe it or not, this was served at a temple dinner one Friday night. It was so good, I asked for the recipe. Low fat, it’s not, but I have had some success using lower fat ingredients such as milk and sour cream, though I wouldn’t bother with nonfat sour cream. I also use less cheddar than this recipe calls for…or I double everything except the sour cream and cheddar. Whatever works…it’s the best version I’ve ever eaten.</p>
<pre><code>* 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
- 1/2 c. butter
- 1/2 c. flour
- 1-1/2 c. milk
- 1-1/2 c. sour cream
- 1 t. salt
- 1/2 T. pepper
- 10 oz. bar mild Cheddar cheese, grated
</code></pre>
<ol>
<li>Preheat oven to 350°F.</li>
<li>Cook macaroni in salted boiling water according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Pour into a 3-qt. casserole</li>
<li>In a saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour. Gradually stir in milk and sour cream. Add salt and pepper.</li>
<li>Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until sauce bubbles and thickens.</li>
<li>Reserve 1 c. grated cheese for the top of the casserole. Toss macaroni with remaining cheese.</li>
<li>Pour sauce over macaroni and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle with reserved cheese.</li>
<li>Bake for 1 hour, or until bubbly and brown.</li>
<li>Serve immediately.</li>
</ol>
<p>Serves 6.</p>
<p>Heres the link to the View’s recipe (scroll down to the bottom) <a href=“http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/recaps[/url]”>http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/recaps</a>
and ehre it is as well:
</p>
<p>THANKS ALL!! Im trying to figure out how to make the mac and cheese the evening it will be served. 
</p>
<p>dg5052, cleveland, and jym626 Im throwing out my old mac and cheese recipe yours are so much better. Thanks</p>
<p>“Cover and Bake” from the Cooks Illustrated folks has a Baked Mac and Cheese you can prepare up to assembling the macaroni and cheese sauce ( not the southern or black people version I prefer which has no white sauce; mostly cheese and a little custard) but before baking and before the crumb topping is added. You wrap tightly with plastic wrap, poke several holes in wrap, refrigerate until cool, then wrap again with plastic . Refrigerate up to three days, or freeze wrapped with foil ( thaw in fridge 24 hours). To complete, you bring to room temp, add crumbs and bake. You may be able to search the whole recipe on their web site, but you’d probably have to register. I’ll go look. It’s a great book for make ahead meals, but not neccesarily for crowds.</p>
<p>couldn’t find recipe on the site but here’s a review</p>
<p>Update on the Best Make-Ahead Recipe instructions for the Mac and Cheese recipe originally from Cover and Bake: I pulled one of my two dishes of this stuff out of the freezer for DH, defrosted it and baked it according to instructions. While it is good, it is NOT the same OMG amazing that the recipe is when it is baked right away. When you bake it right away the sauce is thinner and richer, and somehow tastes cheesier. After freezing, about half of the sauce gets absorbed into the pasta, and somehow it just doesn’t taste as decadent as the fresh. Next year what I will probably do is make the sauce in advance and either freeze it on its own, or just hold it a day or two, and boil, sauce and bake the pasta on the day of.</p>
<p>Found it!</p>
<p>Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Cover and Bake Cook’s Illustrated</p>
<p>Serves 6-8 ( This made way more as a side more like 12 rich servings)</p>
<p>Topping:
4 slices white sandwich bread torn into quarters
2 T unsalted butter melted</p>
<p>mac & cheese
salt
1 pound elbow macaroni- I used cellantani- loose spirals
1 med garlic clove minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
6 T all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups low sodiem chicken broth
3 1/2 cups whole milk
16 ounces colby cheese shredded about 5 1/3 cups
8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese shredded about 2 2/3 cups
Ground black pepper</p>
<ol>
<li><p>For the topping: Process the bread and butter in a food processoor fitted with a steel blade until coarsley ground, about 6 1 second pulses. Set aside.</p></li>
<li><p>For the Mac & Cheese: Adjust oven rack to middle and heat oven to 400. Boil 4 quarts water in a dutch oven over high heat,. Stir in 1 T salt and macaroni. Cook til al dente about 5 minutes. Drain pasta and leave in colander, set aside.</p></li>
<li><p>Wipe pot dry. Add butter and return to medium heat until melted. Add the garlic, mustard and cayenne pepper: cook until fragrent about 30 seconds. Add the flour nad cook, stirring constantly until golden brouwn about 1 minute. SLowly whish in chicken broth and milk. Bring to a simmer and cook. whisking often, until large bubbles form on the surface and the mixture is slightly thickened about 5-8 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the cheeses gradually until completely melted. Season w/ salt and pepper to taste.</p></li>
<li><p>Add the drained pasta to the cheese sauce and stir. Pour into a 9 X 13 baking dish or shallow casserole of similar size. Sprinkle with bread topping and bake until golden brown and bubbling around the edges. 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Planning ahead: Assemble casserole as directed in step 4 but do not sprinkle with bread topping or bake. Wrap dish tightly.- Refriderate for up to 3 days or freeze for 2 months.</p>
<p>Allow casserole to sit at room temp for 1 hour before baking. Wrap dish with foil and bake until casserole is moderately hot 25-30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to cook until bread crumbs are brown 25 minutes longer. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.</p>
<p>tutu-
Thanks- but I just realized the “ingredients” got cut off when I cut and pasted!! they are; </p>
<p>AH HA! Macaroni and Cheese
(Serves 12 to 16)</p>
<p>Ingredients:
2 pounds elbow macaroni
12 eggs
1 cup cubed Velveeta cheese
½ pound (2 sticks) butter, melted
6 cups half-and-half
4 cups grated sharp yellow cheddar cheese
2 cups grated extra sharp white cheddar cheese
1½ cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup grated Muenster cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper</p>
<p>dg5052-
I smiled at the “9” peppercorns.Not 8, not 10–has to be just right!</p>