Southern Baked Macaroni 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	150%	112%
dairy	133%	168%
fat	19%	13%
thickener	1%	0%
egg	22%	0%
salt	2%	1%
different cheeses	1.0	1.0
melt idx	0.6	0.6
cheese flavor idx	0.6	0.6
stretch idx	0.4	0.3

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

Ingredients

Weights computed by us.

85 g	6 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided)
119 g	1/2 cup heavy cream
484 g	2 cups half-and-half
1 g	1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 g	1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 g	1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 g	1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
5 g	2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
454 g	3 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 1 pound)
113 g	1 cup shredded manchego cheese (about 1/4 pound)
113 g	1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (about 1/4 pound)
1893 g	8 cups water
9 g	1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
454 g	1 pound elbow macaroni
100 g	2 large eggs (beaten)
2 g	1/2- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)

Method: 7 steps, published by grandbaby-cakes.com — open the original ↗ or use bake mode for a follow-along with a screen that stays on.

“Hi. This recipe looks good and I wanted to try it until I saw the ingredients. I am not a complainer nor do I have a problem with other people’s recipes, but some of these ingredients are not so easily available at regular grocery stores. When I see a recipe t” — a cook

“my first time ever making this! it was wonderful. I followed the recipe as written including the nutmeg and mustard and pepper etc. Results; delicious. A keeper. But I think I over baked it trying to get that great crispy crust.It wasn’t dry, but just sort of ” — a cook