Cheesier than you know who!
Some believe the dish was created by founding father Thomas Jefferson, known for his great interest in food, and in a 1996 "Restaurants & Institutions" article, Barbara Bell Matuszewski wrote that Jefferson served the dish in the White House in 1802. However, noted food historian Karen Hess claims Jefferson did not invent the dish, though he did return from a trip to Paris with a macaroni mold.
According to John Mariani, author of "The Dictionary of American Food and Drink," macaroni and cheese was first made in the nineteenth century, but it took on a even greater popularity when Kraft Foods introduced the Kraft Dinner (macaroni and cheese) in 1937. According to a company spokesperson, Kraft now sells more than one million boxes of the dinners every day! The Kraft dinners are so popular, in fact, that children and some adults have been known to turn up their noses when offered a rich and delicious homemade version.
Food historians have records of Americans eating macaroni and cheese in the 18th century. Thomas Jefferson enjoyed eating macaroni with grated cheese and butter, and he also liked a sweet macaroni pudding, according to records at Monticello, his plantation home outside of in Virginia. However, it isn't until the late 1930s and the Depression that macaroni and cheese becomes the widely popular and loved food that it is today.
Basic recipes for macaroni and cheese appear as early as 1824 in Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-Wife. Apparently, Randolph is no fan because she describes the dish by saying it "started out as a misconception of an Italian dish."
In Sarah Rutledge's The Carolina Housewife, written in 1847, macaroni and cheese is again identified as an "Italian Receipt," and Rutledge's version is similar to the macaroni and cheese recipes of today. It consists of a white sauce layered with grated cheese, in this case Parmesan cheese, and cooked macaroni and then baked for "10 minutes in a quick oven."
More recipes appear in cookbooks from the 1880s through early 1900s. Jean Anderson says in her cookbook, the American Century Cookbook, that the earliest recipe she found made with "an honest-to-goodness cheese sauce" is in the Larkin Housewives' Cook Book (1915).
However, it wasn't a recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese that popularized the dish; it was Kraft, says Anderson. Kraft was the first to introduce an instant macaroni and cheese dinner, in 1937. In that year alone, Anderson writes "eight million Kraft Dinners were sold, but their popularity soared tenfold during World War II because they were not only good meat substitutes, but also required just one ration coupon."
Since the Kraft Company put it in a box in 1937 every American kid grew up with macaroni and cheese. There can be no doubt that its ultimate origins are Italian, as one finds macaroni and cheese recipes from the late thirteenth century in southern Italy. The anonymous Liber de coquina, written in Latin by someone familiar with the Neapolitan court then under the sphere of Charles II of Anjou (1248-1309) has a recipe called de lasanis which we can call the first “macaroni and cheese” recipe. It was a macaroni, in this case, lasagne sheets made from fermented dough and cut into two-inch squares that were cooked in water and tossed with grated cheese, probably Parmesan. The author suggests using powdered spices and layering the sheets of lasagne, just like today, with the cheese if desired.
But the American macaroni and cheese has two main lines of ancestry claimed. In the first, it is thought that macaroni and cheese was a casserole that had its beginnings at a New England church supper. In southeastern Connecticut it was known long ago as macaroni pudding. In the second, and more famous story, and more than likely the original story, it is said that the classic American macaroni and cheese returned with Thomas Jefferson to Virginia after his sojourn in Italy. Jefferson had brought back a pasta machine from Italy. His daughter Mary Randolph became the hostess of his house after Jefferson’s wife died and she is credited with inventing the dish using macaroni and Parmesan cheese. Later, the Parmesan was replaced with cheddar cheese. Anyway, that's one story. It is more likely that Jefferson encountered the dish in Italy and brought back the recipe.
If you go to the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese website, you can play this fun game - http://tms.promotions.com/spacecenteriwg/login.do
It probably wouldn't be on the menu for your mother-in-law's first dinner visit, and it isn't exactly gourmet fare, but macaroni and cheese is one of the most popular--if not the most popular--American comfort foods. Nearly every soul food cookbook and many Southern cookbooks have recipes for the American favorite, with few differences from one to the next.
Some believe the dish was created by founding father Thomas Jefferson, known for his great interest in food, and in a 1996 "Restaurants & Institutions" article, Barbara Bell Matuszewski wrote that Jefferson served the dish in the White House in 1802. However, noted food historian Karen Hess claims Jefferson did not invent the dish, though he did return from a trip to Paris with a macaroni mold.
According to John Mariani, author of "The Dictionary of American Food and Drink," macaroni and cheese was first made in the nineteenth century, but it took on a even greater popularity when Kraft Foods introduced the Kraft Dinner (macaroni and cheese) in 1937. According to a company spokesperson, Kraft now sells more than one million boxes of the dinners every day! The Kraft dinners are so popular, in fact, that children and some adults have been known to turn up their noses when offered a rich and delicious homemade version.
Food historians have records of Americans eating macaroni and cheese in the 18th century. Thomas Jefferson enjoyed eating macaroni with grated cheese and butter, and he also liked a sweet macaroni pudding, according to records at Monticello, his plantation home outside of in Virginia. However, it isn't until the late 1930s and the Depression that macaroni and cheese becomes the widely popular and loved food that it is today.
Basic recipes for macaroni and cheese appear as early as 1824 in Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-Wife. Apparently, Randolph is no fan because she describes the dish by saying it "started out as a misconception of an Italian dish."
In Sarah Rutledge's The Carolina Housewife, written in 1847, macaroni and cheese is again identified as an "Italian Receipt," and Rutledge's version is similar to the macaroni and cheese recipes of today. It consists of a white sauce layered with grated cheese, in this case Parmesan cheese, and cooked macaroni and then baked for "10 minutes in a quick oven."
More recipes appear in cookbooks from the 1880s through early 1900s. Jean Anderson says in her cookbook, the American Century Cookbook, that the earliest recipe she found made with "an honest-to-goodness cheese sauce" is in the Larkin Housewives' Cook Book (1915).
However, it wasn't a recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese that popularized the dish; it was Kraft, says Anderson. Kraft was the first to introduce an instant macaroni and cheese dinner, in 1937. In that year alone, Anderson writes "eight million Kraft Dinners were sold, but their popularity soared tenfold during World War II because they were not only good meat substitutes, but also required just one ration coupon."
Since the Kraft Company put it in a box in 1937 every American kid grew up with macaroni and cheese. There can be no doubt that its ultimate origins are Italian, as one finds macaroni and cheese recipes from the late thirteenth century in southern Italy. The anonymous Liber de coquina, written in Latin by someone familiar with the Neapolitan court then under the sphere of Charles II of Anjou (1248-1309) has a recipe called de lasanis which we can call the first “macaroni and cheese” recipe. It was a macaroni, in this case, lasagne sheets made from fermented dough and cut into two-inch squares that were cooked in water and tossed with grated cheese, probably Parmesan. The author suggests using powdered spices and layering the sheets of lasagne, just like today, with the cheese if desired.
But the American macaroni and cheese has two main lines of ancestry claimed. In the first, it is thought that macaroni and cheese was a casserole that had its beginnings at a New England church supper. In southeastern Connecticut it was known long ago as macaroni pudding. In the second, and more famous story, and more than likely the original story, it is said that the classic American macaroni and cheese returned with Thomas Jefferson to Virginia after his sojourn in Italy. Jefferson had brought back a pasta machine from Italy. His daughter Mary Randolph became the hostess of his house after Jefferson’s wife died and she is credited with inventing the dish using macaroni and Parmesan cheese. Later, the Parmesan was replaced with cheddar cheese. Anyway, that's one story. It is more likely that Jefferson encountered the dish in Italy and brought back the recipe.
If you go to the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese website, you can play this fun game - http://tms.promotions.com/spacecenteriwg/login.do
by d.tkon <-- He's the cheesiest!!
posted by File Boy & D.Tkon at 1:13 PM
7 Comments:
That's a great history of mac and cheese. As a child I remember my parents throwing in some tomatoes from the garden. That's really the best macaroni and cheese dish of all. You're right that it is a staple of American families too. Every time we have a family get-together there is one member of the family who promises to bring their famous mac and cheese. They use real cheddar and throw in some tomatoes as well. Then they bake it. Its so good, its amazing how easy and cheap it is.
Check out "Worst Kid's meal" from "Eat This, Not That" book...
Worst Fast Food Meal: McDonald's Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips with creamy ranch sauce. Chicken sounds healthy, but not at 870 calories.
Worst Drink: Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo'd Power Smoothie. With 166 grams of sugar, you could have had eight servings of Ben & Jerry's.
Worst Supermarket Meal: Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie. One pie packs 64 grams of fat.
Worst "Healthy" Burger: Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger. With 1,145 calories, not a very healthy choice.
Worst Airport Snack: Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll. Packed with 813 hot gooey calories and 5 grams of trans fats.
Worst Kids' Meal: Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni 'n Cheese. With 62 fat grams, it's the equivalent of 1.5 full boxes of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese.
Worst Salad: On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef. A salad with 102 grams of fat and 2,410 mg of sodium.
This comment has been removed by the author.
OH MY GOD! Those meals are hysterical! I love "you could have had eight servings of Ben & Jerry's"! Don't mind if I do!!
The 1200 calorie healthy burger is a riot! That's more calories than you're allowed on most diets!
By the way, I don't know if you plan on reposting that great post about the worst cars, storms and songs, but I have to say, you really cracked me up.
The amazing thing was that 8 of your 10 worst songs ever were published between 1982 and 1992. And that proves a point I've been screaming (yes screaming) about for years - - and that is that the 80s produced some of the worst music in music history!!!
I think after the amazing 60s and blown-back 70s, there was just no way to sustain the ride for another 10 years. Yes there was the occasional good song in the 80's but honestly, if you threw that decade in the trash, I doubt few would notice
I removed the post because I put it up there at the same time you did yours and I didn't want you to think I was trying to suppress your message.
You have to get that back up there. It was great - put it up there!
Post a Comment
<< Home