Thanksgiving is Coming!
Macaroni and Cheese is often one of the side dishes found on tables across America on that feast day, YET..., how far "back" does this dish go, and let us consider how far back it might go for folks of the British persuasion in the British Colonies in the Amercas.
WHY have those parameters?
Well for Italy, it should be noted that "pasta" goes back to at least the medieval period if not earlier (Long before Legend has it that Marco Polo brought it back from China). So that's easy, but WHEN might folks from the British Isles or in the colonies in the Americas (including places in South America, folks), have had a good chance at making Macaroni and Cheese ???
The Answer is..., 1390
Yes the cook book The Forme of Cury 1390 we find a recipe for it
(Transcribed to modern font, translated in blue)
Take and make a thin foil of dough,
Take and make a dough and roll it out thin
and carve it on pieces,
Slice it into pieces,
and cast them on boiling water & seep it well
put the cut pieces into boiling water, and allow to boil well.
Take cheese and grate it and but cast by then and above as loosens.
Grate cheese and put the grated cheese between layers of the pasta
And sue it forth
Serve it forth
So this we would probably call Linguini with Cheese, as there really isn't a sauce like one finds with Linguini Alfredo, nor is the Macaroni in a tube, but this was the Start-of-The-Renaissance "macaroni"..., as they used the word pretty much as we use the word "pasta" today. The method for the dough is also not specified.... use a whole egg, an egg yolk, or no egg ??? With the English flour and no egg the noodles would likely be wide, and perhaps short by our standards.
Here is what may be the earliest Macaroni and Cheese in an English cookbook where the Macaroni is a tube, BUT it wouldn't yet be "elbow macaroni" folks
FROM The Experienced English Housekeeper 1769
So while we don't get the toasted bread crumb topping that one often finds on "home made" mac & cheese today, we clearly see this is indeed Mac & Cheese with a cheese sauce as we have today. By this time tube pasta was quite well known and very popular as in import. OH and a "water plate" is a pan of hot water smaller than the serving dish that holds boiled water which kept a dish warm at the table by slowing the cooling time as the heat from the water below radiated upwards into the serving dish, resting above.
Wheat flour in the North American Colonies and England had a lower protein content than common flour today and also lower than did the Semolina flour found in Italy during the 18th and early 19th century. This is why a great amount of "macaroni" [pasta] found even in the North American British Colonies was imported from Italy. To copy the above dish, one might wish to use something like Penne, Ziti, Tortiglioni, or Rigatoni.
SO..., when anybody suggests perhaps finding and using a historic dish that very well could've been eaten by the earliest of settlers, pass them the Mac and Cheese, made with Penne.
This might be especially fun for kids and grandkids...
LD
Macaroni and Cheese is often one of the side dishes found on tables across America on that feast day, YET..., how far "back" does this dish go, and let us consider how far back it might go for folks of the British persuasion in the British Colonies in the Amercas.
WHY have those parameters?
Well for Italy, it should be noted that "pasta" goes back to at least the medieval period if not earlier (Long before Legend has it that Marco Polo brought it back from China). So that's easy, but WHEN might folks from the British Isles or in the colonies in the Americas (including places in South America, folks), have had a good chance at making Macaroni and Cheese ???
The Answer is..., 1390
Yes the cook book The Forme of Cury 1390 we find a recipe for it
(Transcribed to modern font, translated in blue)
Take and make a thin foil of dough,
Take and make a dough and roll it out thin
and carve it on pieces,
Slice it into pieces,
and cast them on boiling water & seep it well
put the cut pieces into boiling water, and allow to boil well.
Take cheese and grate it and but cast by then and above as loosens.
Grate cheese and put the grated cheese between layers of the pasta
And sue it forth
Serve it forth
So this we would probably call Linguini with Cheese, as there really isn't a sauce like one finds with Linguini Alfredo, nor is the Macaroni in a tube, but this was the Start-of-The-Renaissance "macaroni"..., as they used the word pretty much as we use the word "pasta" today. The method for the dough is also not specified.... use a whole egg, an egg yolk, or no egg ??? With the English flour and no egg the noodles would likely be wide, and perhaps short by our standards.
Here is what may be the earliest Macaroni and Cheese in an English cookbook where the Macaroni is a tube, BUT it wouldn't yet be "elbow macaroni" folks
FROM The Experienced English Housekeeper 1769
So while we don't get the toasted bread crumb topping that one often finds on "home made" mac & cheese today, we clearly see this is indeed Mac & Cheese with a cheese sauce as we have today. By this time tube pasta was quite well known and very popular as in import. OH and a "water plate" is a pan of hot water smaller than the serving dish that holds boiled water which kept a dish warm at the table by slowing the cooling time as the heat from the water below radiated upwards into the serving dish, resting above.
Wheat flour in the North American Colonies and England had a lower protein content than common flour today and also lower than did the Semolina flour found in Italy during the 18th and early 19th century. This is why a great amount of "macaroni" [pasta] found even in the North American British Colonies was imported from Italy. To copy the above dish, one might wish to use something like Penne, Ziti, Tortiglioni, or Rigatoni.
SO..., when anybody suggests perhaps finding and using a historic dish that very well could've been eaten by the earliest of settlers, pass them the Mac and Cheese, made with Penne.
This might be especially fun for kids and grandkids...
LD
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