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Boiled Macaroni
3/4 cup macaroni broken in inch pieces 2 quarts boiling water 1 tablespoon salt 1/2 cup cream Cook macaroni in boiling salted water twenty minutes or until soft, drain in strainer, pour over it cold water to prevent pieces from adhering; add cream, reheat, and season with salt.
A plain boiled macaroni finished in cream, from the era when pasta was filed under cereals and cooked well past what we would now call done.
- Twenty minutes is too longTwenty minutes is long by modern standards -- modern elbow or cut macaroni is done in 7-9 minutes, and the instruction "or until soft" points to a period preference for pasta cooked well past firm. Cook to just firm and taste rather than watching the clock.
- Water and saltTwo quarts for 3/4 cup of dry pasta is generous by any standard and worth keeping. A full tablespoon of salt in that volume is close to modern practice for well-seasoned pasta water, so go lightly with the final seasoning.
- The cold rinseRinsing washes off surface starch, which is exactly what helps cream cling. If you want a glossy sauce, skip the rinse, drain, and go straight into the cream while the pasta is hot.
- Cream"cream" in books of this period could mean anything from thin cream to a heavy one, so use a rich cream if you want it to coat. Half a cup to 3/4 cup dry macaroni gives a loose, soupy dish; reduce it a minute or two over low heat to coat properly.
- ReheatingKeep the pan below a hard boil once the cream is in. Cream will break or catch on the bottom if pushed, and the pasta continues to soften as it sits in it.
- YieldThree-quarters of a cup of dry macaroni is a side dish for two, or one substantial serving. Scale up freely; the water and salt need not increase proportionally.
- Worth addingThe original is deliberately bare. A grating of nutmeg, white pepper, or a handful of grated cheese stirred in off the heat brings it into line with modern expectations without changing the method.