{"id":33,"date":"2026-09-29T16:21:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T16:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/?p=33"},"modified":"2026-09-29T16:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T16:21:02","slug":"classic-mac-and-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/29\/classic-mac-and-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic Mac and Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A simple stovetop cheese sauce coats every curve of the macaroni. Grating the cheddar yourself helps it melt smoothly into the warm sauce.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cuisine:<\/strong> American | <strong>Prep:<\/strong> 10 minutes | <strong>Cook:<\/strong> 20 minutes | <strong>Yield:<\/strong> 4 servings<\/p>\n<h2>Ingredients<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>300 g elbow macaroni<\/li>\n<li>30 g butter<\/li>\n<li>30 g plain flour<\/li>\n<li>500 ml whole milk<\/li>\n<li>200 g cheddar, freshly grated<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 tsp mustard powder<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 tsp fine salt, plus salt for pasta water<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 tsp black pepper<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Method<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Cook macaroni in salted boiling water according to the packet. Reserve a cup of pasta water, then drain.<\/li>\n<li>Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir for 1 minute.<\/li>\n<li>Gradually whisk in milk, keeping the mixture smooth. Cook, stirring, for 5\u20137 minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon.<\/li>\n<li>Stir in mustard powder. Remove the pan from heat and add cheddar a handful at a time until melted.<\/li>\n<li>Fold in macaroni. Loosen with a splash of pasta water if needed, then season with salt and pepper.<\/li>\n<li>Serve promptly while the sauce is creamy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Cook\u2019s tip<\/h2>\n<p>Avoid boiling the sauce after adding cheese; high heat can make it grainy. A medium or mature cheddar gives good flavor without needing extra ingredients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A simple stovetop cheese sauce coats every curve of the macaroni. Grating the cheddar yourself helps it melt smoothly into the warm sauce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54,"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions\/54"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipesmadeforu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}