Southern Baked Mac and Cheese

The formula

Every ingredient resolved to grams, expressed against the recipe's own base — next to the median of all 120.

	this recipe	typical
cheese	200%	112%
dairy	131%	168%
fat	3%	13%
egg	22%	0%
salt	0%	1%
aromatics	2%	0%
different cheeses	3.0	1.0
melt idx	0.8	0.6
cheese flavor idx	0.3	0.6
stretch idx	0.5	0.3

Adapts cleanly: egg-free, nut-free (documented swaps, applied on the dish page)

Ingredients

Weights computed by us.

14 g	1 tbsp butter (for buttering the pan)
454 g	16 oz elbow macaroni (uncooked)
2400 g	10 cups water mixed with chicken broth ((I use Better than Bouillon))
227 g	8 oz sharp cheddar cheese (shredded, save half for topping)
227 g	8 oz colby jack cheese (shredded, save half for topping)
227 g	8 oz part-skim mozzarella cheese (shredded)
227 g	8 oz American cheese (cubed)
113 g	4 oz softened cream cheese (warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds)
242 g	1 cup half and half
238 g	1 cup heavy cream
	kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
1 g	1/2 tsp smoked paprika
4 g	1-2 tsp garlic powder
3 g	1 tsp onion powder
2 g	1/2 tsp mustard powder
100 g	2 large eggs

Method: 9 steps, published by sweetteaandthyme.com — open the original ↗ or use bake mode for a follow-along with a screen that stays on.

“Eden Westbrook The video shows the American cheese is sliced American cheese put together and cubed. It’s still the same amount. Reply Jennifer F The recipe calls for 4oz of cream cheese but the linked YouTube video shows thr whole 8oz being used. Which is cor” — a cook

“Eden Westbrook Hi Umit, I've never made this mac and cheese in the smoker so I don't know how love it'll take to bake. It isn't made with a cheese sauce so you would be waiting for the cheese to melt as well so it may take at least an hour. If you decide to do” — a cook