Trinidadian · Side
Macaroni Pie
- Intermediate
- 25 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with richness that coats and comforts, a silken, spoon-slow texture, with a bitter-edged char at the rim.
Ingredients
- 400g elbow macaroni
- 400ml evaporated milk
- 3 eggs
- 350g mature cheddar, coarsely grated
- 50g butter
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 small onion, grated
- 2 pimento seasoning peppers, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
Equipment
Grater / zester
The skills inside
Tempering a custardSalted water & the float testThe wobble & the skewer: testing a bake
Allergen screen
Found: gluten · dairy · egg · mustard
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Boil the macaroni in well salted water two minutes short of the packet time; it must still be chalky at the core, because it goes on drinking custard in the oven.
- Drain and stir the butter through while it steams, then the onion, pimento, mustard, salt, pepper and two thirds of the cheese.
- Beat the eggs into the evaporated milk and fold that through; in the dish the mixture should look wet and loose rather than creamy.
- Level it into a buttered 30cm dish, scatter the remaining cheese over and bake at 180C (350F) for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is blistered brown and the centre keeps only a faint wobble. 40 min
- Rest 15 minutes before cutting, so the custard finishes setting and the squares hold their edges. 15 min
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the techniques it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Tempering a custard 59 recipes
- The hot liquid went into the eggs a little at a time with constant whisking, and only then did everything go back to the pot.
- The heat under it stayed gentle throughout and it was never allowed to boil.
- Stirred continuously and right into the corners of the pan, where it thickens first and sets unnoticed.
- Judged by behaviour: it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a clean line when a finger is drawn through it.
- Taken off before it looks finished, and strained. Residual heat carries it the rest of the way, and a custard held on the heat until it looks right arrives past right.
Where it goes wrong The hot liquid went in too fast, or the pot went back over full heat to save time. The yolks set into threads before they could thicken smoothly, and a scrambled custard does not come back; straining hides a little of it and nothing hides the rest.
The wobble & the skewer: testing a bake 135 recipes
- Tested at the true centre and the thickest point, not at the convenient edge: the edge is done long before the answer is.
- The skewer comes out as the recipe describes, clean and dry or carrying the stated moist crumb, and it does the same on a second test in a different spot.
- The wobble is read in motion: nudged, the centre moves as one set mass with a faint tremble, rather than a liquid ripple travelling across the surface.
- The other signs agree with the test: risen and just shrinking from the sides, the top set and dry to a light touch with no wet gloss on it.
- Pressed lightly at the middle it springs back and leaves no lasting dent.
Where it goes wrong It was judged on the clock and on how the edges looked, so a centre still liquid went to the rack and sank as it cooled, a dense wet seam under a perfectly browned top.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Grüner Veltliner
- Also Right
- Vermentino or dry Chenin
- From the Taps
- Saison
- Zero-Proof
- Sparkling water with citrus & herbs
The vegetable whisperers: peppery, high-acid whites that flatter greens, roots, and grains without bullying them.
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