HFF 5.24: The Tiffany Problem

The Challenge: The Tiffany Problem. Try making a dish that's older than you'd expect; something that seems like it should be an anachronism, but isn't. 

Quinn's 19th century macaroni was how I was introduced to the 'Tiffany Problem' in the first place, so it seemed fitting to finally make some for myself.

The Recipe: To Dress Macaroni from Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book

The Date/Year and Region: 1857, Philadelphia

How Did You Make It: Per the instructions, I boiled the noodles (~4-5oz of cavatappi) until soft, drained them, then returned them to the pan with milk (1 cup), butter (~2 Tbsp), a dash of salt, and a dash of cayenne pepper. I grated ~2 oz of smoked Gruyère cheese into the pan, and stirred it all together for ~10 minutes while the oven pre-heated. I then poured the macaroni into a glass dish, sprinkled over it the smallest amount of bread crumbs I could justify, and let it sit in a cooling oven for 10 minutes to brown.

Total Time: 40 minutes

Total Cost: About $3

How Successful Was It?: Very tasty. I thought at first that I should have used more cheese (since the sauce seemed a bit thin), but the flavor was lovely and I found that after stirring the noodles around, they picked up the sauce very nicely. I don't usually like bread crumbs on pasta, but it actually didn't bother me this time.

I really liked this receipt as I made it this time, and wouldn't change anything. If I had to pick something to alter, I might try adding just a touch more cheese and/or pepper, but I'm not sure either of those would necessarily be an improvement. I would, however, add the slat and pepper to the milk before the noodles go it, just so it's a little easier to stir.

How Accurate Is It? I did use cavatappi-shaped noodles because the store was out of elbow macaroni, and that's the closest I could get. The cheese type wasn't specified, so I picked Gruyère because I heard it's a popular option for macaroni. It melted easily and tasted great, so I think this was a good decision--and if the internet is to be believed, this cheese has been made since the middle ages. I have less confidence that Victorians were using hickory smoked Gruyère in their macaroni, but it certainly tasted nice. For the ingredient proportions, I did follow the instructions to use enough milk to half-cover the cooked noodles; the rest of the ingredients are to one's own taste, excepting the butter, which I scaled down since I am only one person and wasn't preparing a dish for a whole table. I think this is a reasonable alteration since "butter the size of a turkey egg" isn't scaled to anything. I am disproportionately proud that I used homemade breadcrumbs in this receipt.

 

Macaroni from an 1857 recipe.