My Baked Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

* 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (one 16 oz. box is 2 cups)

* 1/2 cup butter (one stick) divided into 2 equal amounts
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1-3/4 cups whole milk
* 10 oz. block of Vermont sharp cheddar cheese
* 1/4 cup bread crumbs
* 1/4 cup corn flake crumbs (found in the same aisle as bread crumbs)


You won't find a better recipe for this classic dish. I got this
recipe from someone who used to serve it many years ago at a famous
restaurant chain. (think orange roof)

This recipe relies on milkfat for it's delicious flavor.
DON'T substitute margarine for butter, 1-2% milk for whole
(red cap) milk or any other type of cheddar for Vermont sharp.

PREPARATION:

Coarsely shred the cheese on a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

Boil elbow macaroni until done. Drain well and spread evenly
in 9 X 13 buttered glass baking dish.

Melt 1/4 cup of the butter in frying pan over medium heat.
Stir in salt, pepper and onion powder. Add flour and cook
over low heat, stirring constantly, until it is smooth and
very light brown in color. Remove the frying pan from the
stove IMMEDIATELY (this mixture is called a roux and once
it starts to brown it can burn very easily) and stir the
milk in slowly with a wire whisk.

Return the frying pan to the burner and gradually increase
heat as you stir constantly. When mixture boils, continue
to stir for 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Stir in the
shredded cheddar cheese and mix until cheese is melted and
mixture is smooth.

In a small frying pan, melt the other 1/4 cup of butter and
add the bread crumbs and corn flake crumbs. Stir over medium
heat until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. This is your
toasted crumb topping.

Add the cheese sauce mix to the macaroni and stir in
thoroughly, then sprinkle the toasted crumb topping evenly
over it.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Let sit for
5 minutes before cutting into servings.

Friends No More

Victor Alonzo Friend was a well-known Boston-area businessman whose company produced Friend's® Brick Oven Baked Beans.

Victor was born in the small coastal town of Brooklin, Maine to Robert Alonzo and Alona Blanche (Mirick) Friend. His father, a storekeeper, also owned boats for fishing and transporting lumber. By the time Victor went to public school the family had relocated to Fitchburg, Massachusetts. After High School he attended Bates College, then transferred to the Portland Maine Business College. He graduated in 1892.

Friend worked for several months for a wholesale grocery concern in Portland, saving his money. Then, with his brother Leslie, he moved to the Boston suburb, Melrose, Massachusetts, where they established a bakery. They baked beans and delivered them to their customers by a horse-drawn wagon. Using what they considered an "authentic New England recipe" allegedly based on a fellowship recipe of Pilgrim (and ancestor) Hester Friend, they founded their business on the longstanding Puritan tradition of preparing baked beans in advance to be eaten on the Sabbath, a day when worked was prohibited. They also began experimenting with canning.

Victor's other brother, Robert, entered the business and the brothers were later joined by Robert and Leslie's sons as well. Eventually they were able to can their beans without sacrificing flavor, which revolutionized the baked bean industry. In 1921 the firm was organized as Friend Brothers, bakers and canners, and in 1928 it was incorporated as Friend Brothers, Inc. They became one of the largest canners in the United States. They had factories in Melrose, Malden, Lynn, and Lowell and ran Friendly Food Shops in forty Greater Boston communities. The "brothers" also processed other New England specialties: cranberries and brown bread. Through the 1950s they nearly monopolized the New England market for their product. Victor was president until his death.

In 1973, his heirs sold the business to the William Underwood. Co (of canned deviled ham fame) and they shut down the Malden cannery in 1974, consolidating operations with their B&M® bean cannery in Portland, ME. After changing hands several times, in 1999 the Friend's brand was sold to B&G Foods, in an acquisition from Pillsbury that also included the B&M® brand.

It appears that B&G Foods has since abandoned the Friend's brand in favor of the B&M® brand, which they consider to be the more well-known/popular of the two.

B&M Baked Beans: not what they used to be

Although not considered a glamorous, high society food, baked beans are nutritious, hearty and filling, feeding both body and spirit. My grandfather used to make baked bean sandwiches to take on fishing trips and I have fond memories of washing them down with a cup of his light and sweet hot tea from a Thermos bottle while angling on Fisher's Pond.

B&G Foods acquired the B&M® (Burnham & Morrill) brand of baked beans on March 15, 1999 from The Pillsbury Company. They've since "re-staged the brand with a re-styled label and a re-formulated recipe" that umm... sucks. It's no wonder they've lost much of their original market share. Sure, they still make them in Portland, Maine at the original factory, but they should have left well enough alone and not screwed around with the recipe.

The words mealy and bland immediately come to mind. Reading the label, I noticed that they're also using high fructose corn syrup in place of brown sugar and modified food starch to thicken the sauce. The piece of salt pork that they add to each can has also shrunk to the size of a sugar cube. Baked beans are inexpensive to make at home and I'm certain even less expensive to make in large commercial quantities for canning. Was it really necessary to cut costs by substituting cheaper ingredients for the original recipe? We're talking about saving mere pennies per can, folks.

B&G Foods, shame on you.