I got questions...do you have answers?

I would cut the flour in half. Like Traca says, the mixture should be runny when it goes in the oven

Maybe she's right and you don't even need a roux, but I think the roux stabilizes the sauce so the cheese will stay suspended. You don't need enough for a thick sauce--the pasta itself will thicken it as it bakes.

Even then, I find it is only creamy right out of the oven. My leftovers are always dry.

 
For salting to taste things like homemade sausage - you cook a small amount in a pan to taste the

seasonings to ensure you have them right - and then adjust the raw mixture and go on your merry way with the recipe.

I had seen an old Julia Child episode where she did that. I've used it ever since.

Tess

 
And to further muddy the water, Morton's kosher and Diamond Crystal don't measure the same. When

mixing the brine for corned beef where so much salt is used, I always wish I knew which one the recipe intended.

Like Michael, I try to keep salt on the light side so I use Diamond Crystals which, according to CI, is coarser than Mortons, therefore having less salt to the measure.

 
How do I keep my mac-n-cheese from being too dry when I bake it?

To keep you mac-n-cheese creamy after baking, I like to make the mac-n-cheese with a white sauce base, about as thick as gravy (2T flour to 1 cup milk) the dilute after I have added all seasonings and cheese(s) by about 1/3.

Of course you can do the basic heating of the mac-n-cheese in a casserole and keep it covered, uncovering at the end only to brown the top too!

 
mistral, this would be the exact ratio I'm using (1/4 C of each with 2 cups milk) and it

turns out very thick...which I thought was good. But I wonder if my pasta is soaking up some of the moisture.

 
Thanks everyone. I should have said I'm not talking about cookbooks

in general. I pull so many recipes online and I really can't tell what the person posting it might be thinking. Not forum type sites that I might be able to ask. I use Kosher salt for most everything because it has less salt and I want to control it. I really only use table salt to season water to cook things, like pasta.

 
There had been times when kosher salt doesn't melt, like in salads. For

that reason, I'm wary of using it in an icing.

 
I've been looking at other recipes for this online and I think--maybe--it's supposed

to be this thin. Most say to poke holes in the cake to let the sour cream mixture soak in. Then they say to add the remaining sour cream mix to whipping cream to ice the sides.

Maria NEVER mentioned whipping cream. She was pretty adament that it only had 3 ingredients (sour cream, sugar, unsweetened coconut). But then, she never made the cake...it was always her mother or aunt who made it for her and they are both gone.

I like the cream cheese idea as I don't want to increase the sugar. Thanks, M!

 
Folding in the whipped cream sounds good also. Or maybe use both whipped cream and cream cheese.

 
Sure, it could be, especially if you are baking it and. . .

it will tend to soak up sauce, even if you serve it without baking, if you let it set for a while.

 
Marilyn for ground meats stuffed inside something, a tip I learned from making sausage, is to fry a

small piece off so you can taste it and see if the seasoning is where you want it to be. I know this is an extra step but it's the only way I know to be absolutely sure.

(In sausage-making this is especially useful b/c you don't want to go through all that work putting 5+ pounds of sausage in casings, only to find out you needed to add more salt!

 
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