Back when I was a poor film school student, we had a name for the cheap boxed mac and cheese which made up a large portion of many people’s diets: Slow Orange Death.

You know the stuff I mean.

I avoided Slow Orange Death for a long time, which largely meant no mac and cheese at all.  It really wasn’t until I married a girl from a community famous for its cheese that I looked into how to make my own at home (for her, of course), and I got this recipe from my hero Alton Brown.  I learned to love it again.

This is a really fast, easy recipe. Be forewarned though that this stuff is really rich, incredibly cheesy, and more than a little addicting. Feel free to substitute in any pasta shape you’d like (I pretty rarely use actual macaroni), to mix up whatever varieties of cheese you like, and it couldn’t hurt to experiment with adding other things like fine diced onions, cooked bacon, or peas. You could even pour the finished product into a baking dish, sprinkle with buttered bread crumbs and bake it, if that’s your thing. Experiment!

Note: Be sure to use evaporated milk, not condensed milk.

The Best Stove Top Mac ‘n’ Cheese Ever

Ingredients

• 1 pound elbow macaroni (or any other pasta shape you like)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 4 eggs
• 1 can evaporated milk (12 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper to taste (about a teaspoon)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 20 ounces cheddar, shredded.

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water.
2. While pasta cooks, whisk together eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard in a bowl.
3. When pasta is al dente, drain and return to the pot set over low heat.
4. Melt in the butter, tossing pasta to coat.
5. Stir milk mixture into the pasta, then add the cheese and stir.
6. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.