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Some of the best scenes in the film, “Soul Food” were the mouthwatering scenes of the Sunday dinner spread with foods like fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas, cornbread and, of course, macaroni and cheese. What’s a good soul food spread without it?
“Macaroni and cheese goes well with collards, turkey wings, fried chicken, oxtails, neckbones…but it’s also one of those dishes that can be on the table by itself,” exclaims Chef Devotis Lee of D Cafe and Catering, in Atlanta.
But it can’t just be any kind of macaroni and cheese – not the stovetop that’s popular with children. It has to be soul food macaroni and cheese – the kind that’s baked with a crusty top, the way Black cooks and chefs have been making it for generations.
But who was the first Black chef to make it?
Macaroni and Cheese Origins
According to books like “High on the Hog” by Jessica B. Harris and “At the Table of Power” by Diane M. Spivey, when Thomas Jefferson was serving as U.S. Minister to France in the late 1700s, he took his enslaved chef, James Hemings (older brother of Sally Hemings and half brother of Jefferson’s wife, Martha) who was only 19 at the time.
Jefferson had Hemings apprentice to chefs in Paris over three years. He eventually became head chef for the American delegation at the embassy, where he cooked for European elite and international guests.
Upon their return to the United States, Hemings brought back the techniques and recipes he learned abroad and implemented them at Jefferson’s Monticello home in Virginia. One of those recipes was for what Hemings called macaroni pie, which he eventually renamed macaroni and cheese.
“Pasta and cheese had been served in Europe many years before James Hemings went to France,” says culinary influencer Charla L. Draper, founder of National Soul Food Month and former food editor of Ebony magazine.
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“However…I think that James Hemings was instrumental in making macaroni and cheese more popular in the United States.”
For the original soul food macaroni and cheese, Hemings used a mixture of milk and boiling water and placed sharp American cheese in between layers of butter and macaroni. Then it was baked in a Dutch oven over an open-hearth fireplace stove, with hot coals placed over the lid.
For a while, it was only enjoyed by the White elite because pasta and cheese were expensive to make and to import from Europe. But once the United States started opening pasta and cheese factories, macaroni and cheese also became popular among the lower classes.
Macaroni and Cheese as a Soul Food Tradition
“When you look back at the history of cities like New Orleans, Italians were not considered to be White at that time, so they were relegated to particular areas not far from where the freed Black people lived,” notes Draper.
“And with pasta being popular in the Italian community, I think there was a cultural exchange of food, which contributed to macaroni and cheese becoming popular in the Black community.”
During the Great Migration (1910 – 1970), when African Americans moved from the South to other parts of the U.S., soul food macaroni and cheese recipes traveled across the country. For many low-income families, relief organizations often included macaroni and processed cheese, making a quick, easy and affordable meal.
Kraft’s boxed macaroni and cheese also became popular as a cheap and easy meal stretcher, but African Americans continued to make baked or soul food macaroni and cheese for special occasions like Sunday dinners, special celebrations and holidays.
“You always have to have macaroni and cheese on Thanksgiving, Christmas and even Easter,” exclaims Lee. “But I recently catered for several large corporations and just about all of them had macaroni and cheese on the menu for their Juneteenth celebrations.”
Soul Food Macaroni and Cheese Recipes
Soul food macaroni and cheese is a fairly simple recipe, but each cook adds their own touches to it. Here’s a recipe from the formerly enslaved chef Rufus Estes, who became a top chef for the country’s largest steel corporations:
“Cook macaroni in boiling salted water, boil uncovered for 20 or 30 minutes, drain, fill a buttered baking dish with alternate layers of macaroni and grated cheese, sprinkling pepper, salt, and melted butter over each layer [with] a top layer of cheese, moisten with rich milk, bake in moderate oven until a rich brown.”
Lena Richards, who was the first Black woman with a television cooking show, had this macaroni and cheese recipe in “Lena Richard’s New Orleans Cookbook from 1939:
“Cook macaroni in boiling salted water according to package directions, drain, mix flour and salt with grated cheese, put layer of macaroni in a buttered baking dish, cover with cheese mixture, repeat layers, having cheese on top, bake 45 minutes at about 350 degrees.”
“We did macaroni and cheese for the Ebony Test Kitchen, and the recipe that was featured in the magazine was my family recipe,” says Draper with pride. “We always use pasteurized processed cheese in our family and add shredded cheddar, but we also use Cheez Whiz, which I think helps to give it some of that creaminess,” she explains.
What, no Velveeta? “I’ve stirred a lot of pots, and I did some time in the Kraft kitchens and Velveeta was one of my products,” Draper admits. “So I think that Velveeta and Cheez Whiz could be used interchangeably, but you would need to make adjustments on the moisture or liquid that you add.”
Lee shares, “For my macaroni and cheese, I use three different cheeses – a Colby jack, a regular cheddar and a gouda. And I put a tad of dry brown mustard in there, which gives it that little extra kick.”
She continues, “I learned a little bit of the recipe from my mom and grandmother and then just added my own things to it, like the dry mustard and the gouda cheese.” And she advises, “Gouda is a very strong cheese, so you have to be careful not to add too much, or it will overpower the mac and cheese and ruin the dish.”
Lee’s recipe is so good that it was chosen as the only macaroni and cheese recipe in the 2024 “Our American Dream Cookbook.”, released this month.
Draper says whatever your soul food macaroni and cheese recipe, it’s no good if the pasta is overcooked. “You have to cook your elbow pasta, or whatever pasta you’re using, until it is al dente because it continues to cook in the oven. And if you cook it until it’s too soft in the boiling water, then it’s practically mush when it comes out of the oven.”
What about recipes for vegans and people who can’t eat dairy? “I was looking up a recipe for vegan macaroni and cheese, and they used soaked cashews to help give that creaminess,” notes Draper.
“They also used cooked sweet potatoes and cooked Yukon Gold potatoes with a variety of spices. And I’m thinking I want to try and make that,” she adds. Of course, it can’t be called soul food macaroni and cheese if too many non-traditional ingredients are added. It would be like ruining soul food potato salad with raisins.
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Who’s Macaroni and Cheese is Worthy?
When macaroni and cheese shows up at a potluck, the question on most Black people’s lips is, “Who made it?” We’re just not going to eat anybody’s!
“I’m very selective with macaroni and cheese,” Draper admits. “I loved my mom’s macaroni and cheese. And I guess she passed the baton when I wasn’t looking because now my sister Cheryl is the macaroni and cheese cook,” she laughs.
“Cheryl really makes good macaroni and cheese, and I think she will pass it on to my nephew, Wyatt because he has always enjoyed working in the hospitality industry.”
Lee chimes in, “If I want some good soul food macaroni and cheese, I make my own. But my daughter and mother-in-law make good macaroni and cheese, too! In fact, a lot of Black Southern cooks don’t need to go to a restaurant to get good macaroni and cheese because they cook it regularly themselves,” she laughs.
But for those who’d like to enjoy soul food macaroni and cheese away from home, Draper has her favorite restaurant in her hometown of Chicago. “I really like the macaroni and cheese at Virtue, which positions itself as a Southern restaurant with old school comfort food, located on the Southside,” Draper imparts.
For a unique twist, the owners opened a pop-up called Top This Mac & Cheese, where you can order different kinds of toppings like bacon, buffalo shrimp, chicken, Cajun shrimp and a vegetable topping.
Soul food macaroni and cheese will always be an iconic dish in the African American community. But Draper has a warning. “Our holiday menus usually have macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas and more, but you can’t have a heaping amount of carbohydrates at one time.”
She continues, “When we were enslaved and doing more agricultural work, we needed those carbs, but today, we don’t need all that to just sit at the computer.” And she has one last warning.
“So many of our elders didn’t write down their recipes, so Black folks need to go to their elders about how to make macaroni and cheese because if the only person who made it is no longer with us, the recipe is lost.”
So with Thanksgiving around the corner, now’s the time to learn that family recipe for soul food macaroni and cheese and create a succession so that it lives for many family gatherings to come.
