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one minute later he asked for seconds. The trouble with a lot of mac ’n’ cheese is that it’s monotonously rich, an exhausting song in the key of cheddar. But here, the spice cut the incomparable creaminess and richness of the cheese, and the cheese mellowed the spice. It was a huge hit. Six weeks later, Owen requested it for the dinner at his sleepover tenth birthday party.

“Are you sure?” I said. “Are you sure you don’t want pizza?”

“I want people to think I know a lot about gourmet food,” he said. “I like it when people think I’m an expert in things.”

The guests—swilling root beer and telling fart jokes—seemed unimpressed with Owen’s sophistication, but seven boys vacuumed up mac ’n’ cheese for twelve in fifteen minutes. I couldn’t decide whether to put this recipe in the “Dinner” chapter or “Having People Over” chapter, but I decided on the latter because I now make it only for parties. The recipe makes a lot and you can have it all done ahead of time.

This recipe originally comes from the website Jane Spice and I have changed it only slightly.

Make it or buy it? Buy boxed mac ’n’ cheese as your sanity demands, but when you have time, budget, and stamina, try this recipe. It is not only better than Kraft Mac ’n’ Cheese, it is better than a Costco lasagna.

Hassle: I don’t love grating cheese. Plus, there’s a lot of pot scrubbing.

Cost comparison: Homemade: $2.40 per cup. Stouffer’s frozen: $1.50 per cup. Kraft: $0.69 per cup.

Kosher salt

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for the casserole dish

6 slices fresh bread (about 6 ounces), homemade or store-bought, crumbled into feathery bits in a food processor; rye is especially tasty

5½ cups whole milk

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons vadouvan spice blend (see Appendix)

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chili powder

4½ cups grated sharp white cheddar (about 18 ounces)

2 cups grated Gruyère (about 8 ounces)

1 pound elbow macaroni

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Butter a large casserole.

2. In a skillet melt 6 tablespoons of the butter and toss with the bread crumbs.

3. In a medium saucepan, gently heat the milk.

4. In a large pot or Dutch oven melt the remaining butter. When it begins to bubble, add the flour. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

5. Slowly pour the hot milk into the flour-butter mixture and whisk well. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in 2 teaspoons salt, the vadouvan, pepper, chili powder, 3 cups of the cheddar, and 1½ cups of the Gruyère. Set the cheese sauce aside.

6. When the water is boiling, add the macaroni. Cook until it is just tender; the inside should still be somewhat firm. Drain the macaroni in a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain again well. Stir the macaroni into the cheese sauce.

7. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole. Sprinkle over it the remaining cheddar and Gruyère. Scatter the bread crumbs over the top. Bake until browned, about 30 minutes.

8. Transfer to a cooling rack for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 14 cups, to serve 12 (or 7 ten-year-old boys)

SHOULD YOU MAKE YOUR OWN VADOUVAN SPICE BLEND?

When I ran through my little packet of vadouvan, I found a recipe online. The process involves chopping several pounds of onions, shallots, and garlic, then cooking them to a brown slurry in a skillet and tossing in fresh curry leaves, fenugreek, and various other spices. After this, I spread the sludge on a cookie sheet and roasted it for an hour until it formed a leathery mat that I broke up and stuffed in a plastic bag. The mat was delicious—salty, oniony, chewy—and I snacked on it straight from the bag. A few days later, I made our beloved mac ’n’ cheese. But even when I added an extra tablespoon of homemade vadouvan to the recipe, everyone noted a decline in savor. I priced it out and by making my own vadouvan I spent a few cents more