[.ca] Macaroni and Cheese: 52 Recipes, from Simple to Sublime (ISBN 0375757007)

From Amazon.com:
Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate, all-American comfort food. Most Americans, especially children, are familiar with the version that comes out of the blue cardboard box, but acclaimed cookbook author Joan Schwartz has something to say about that in her collection Macaroni & Cheese. Schwartz has compiled over 50 original and inventive recipes from many well-known chefs and restaurants. Most of the recipes start off with a basic béchamel sauce (milk whisked into a roux) and add various domestic and foreign cheeses to the hot mixture, but some find room for more exotic ingredients, like truffles, duck prosciutto, oysters, sausage, and codfish. In addition, there's a glossary of almost 40 milk and goat cheese varieties that appear within the recipes. After sampling some of the more unusual recipes with such fascinating and complementary flavors, it will be time to put your standard assumptions about mac and cheese to rest, and put the blue box at the back of the pantry shelf. --Teresa Simanton

excellent reference for mac and cheese lovers!:
i got this book last fall, and although i have only had time for one recipe so far, that one recipe was absolutely the best macaroni and cheese i have ever had. the recipes are unique and definitely interesting - not your average box of kraft! i absolutely recommend this book for any mac and cheese lovers~ even if you think you dont like to cook. it's wonderful.

YUMMY AND UNIQUE!:
Macaroni and cheese - kids like it, it's affordable, quick, simple to prepare and easy to digest. However, this is not your typical macaroni and cheese in a famous brand name box that you can prepare in less time than it takes to iron you socks! I liked this book particularly because it had so many variations and quite honestly, some I had never thought of and others that did not sound too appealing on the surface but turned out to be down-right delicious! There is a version found here with lobster that will pass for a gourmet meal! The choices are endless and the cost of preparing these recipes can be as extravagant or as modest as the ingredients you choose to add. If you are one who does not care for that "little blue box," do not give up on the macaroni and cheese idea yet, as least not until you have tried some of the recipes found in Schwartz's book. You can tickle your taste buds with a different delight each week of the year!

Mac & Cheese!?!? Not in the 'Blue Box' Anymore!!:
Is there any food dish that is more American than Macaroni and Cheese? Many of us, myself included, grew up with the 'blue box' and as our tastes developed, so did our disdain for this dish. I tended to equate 'Mac & Cheese' with that meat product that comes in the blue can. But Joan Schwartz has exploded the low-brow image of America's comfort food. This book is incredible! There are so many varieties of this dish from the 'classic' dishes to international flavors to what Ms. Schwartz calls 'Mac and Cheese Today'. And don't think that the cheese is that orange stuff. Swiss, Fontina, Mascarpone, Feta and Mozzarella are just a few of the varieties that you will use in your recipes. And just when you thought that the cheeses were a stretch, recipes with lobster, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, portabello and crimini mushrooms and chiles and chipotle peppers to mention a few, will delight your tastes. I'll admit that I bought this book with a great deal of skepticism. A few bites of the 'Chunks of Lobster Swimming in Cheesy Macaroni' dispelled my reservations. Other favorites include 'Farfalle with Fontina, Tasso Ham and Baby Spinach' and Mac and Smoked Cheddar with Ham and Chipotles'. Imagine the look on guests' faces when you announce that you are serving them Mac and Cheese and their surprise when you serve a dish approaching haute cuisine. Let's admit it...we liked the 'blue box' growing up and most of us are ashamed to reveal our love of this American staple. Now we can proudly bring this long demeaned dish back to the table and rekindle our fondness for it. Buy the book....it's a keeper!

Loved this Book:
The recipe for greek mac n' cheese is one of my favorite recipes of all time. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

A mac and cheese lover's must-have!:
Clearly written, with easy to follow instructions, and guide to ingredients, including definitions and sources. I love the 50's style art and kitchy-ness of this wonderful comfort food book. The recipes go from simple and basic to complex and gourmet. Even my husband loved this book so much, he followed a recipe and made a decent meal from scratch for the first time in his life. I plan to attempt most of the recipes in this book.