Best Mac n Cheese Ever

2 cups of milk
onion
celery
black pepper
a few cloves of garlic
a bay leaf
4 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of flour
powdered mustard
soy sauce/nutmeg/chili powder (optional)
a little salt
grated cheese
lemon juice or dry white wine
macaroni noodles

Boil water for the noodles and cook the noodles in a pot.

Heat 2 cups of milk in a small saucepan. Add coarsely chopped onion, some celery (preferably the leafy part), a couple of lightly crushed cloves of black pepper, a couple cloves of garlic, and a bay leaf.

In a larger saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter, low heat so it doesn’t burn, then add in 4 tablespoons (which is the same as 1/4 cup) of flour. A half stick of butter and the equivalent of flour would also do. Mix it together well and keep it on low heat and let it cook for about 5 minutes.

Toss in a dash of powdered mustard.

Then turn up the heat and mix in the strained warm milk, and stir well, it will firm up quickly so keep stirring it. Turn down the heat again, but keep it at a simmer for another few minutes. During this simmer you can stir in some other flavors, a little salt, I like a little less salt plus a dash of soy sauce, some fresh ground nutmeg, maybe some chili powder of some sort.

Then you’re ready to add your cheese. The cheese should be grated. I don’t know how much, whatever works for you. Turn off the heat to the sauce, you don’t want to overheat the cheese, it should be just enough to melt. If you have a lot of cheese you might want to leave it on real low for a little bit while you add it in. Here’s the other key add a dash of a dry white wine or some lemon juice just before you add the cheese. The acid helps dissolve some of the bonds in the cheese and so it ends up more creamy rather than sticking together like cheese sometimes does.

Don’t overcook the pasta or rinse it.

Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta.