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Comment by russellsprouts | Hacker News Reader

I agree. I make 3 boxes at once. The box calls for 1.5 sticks of butter in that case, but I only use 1, and it comes out great.

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Had to Google 'sticks of butter', crazy Americans ;)

I also don't understand what Kraft is doing you telling you how to make macaroni cheese... What's in a 'Kraft mac and cheese' box that it still requires making, and yet is also some kind of recipe kit?

It's hardly a complex recipe from 'scratch' (eg http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8834/bestever-macaroni-ch...).

The box contains dry pasta and dry cheese flavoring. You have to add milk and butter.

I just don't understand the value in that... Swap the "dry cheese flavouring" for a bit of cornflour (or plain) and real cheese, and you have better fresher macaroni cheese with no difficulty increase; probably cheaper too.

'Better' is debatable. If you make it well, it can be quite good. Add extra milk, butter, (and salt if needed). Strain and add these before the noodles are soft, and keep it on the stove until it reduces and softens. It's a completely different experience.

Most people seem to mix that crap in cold and end up with dry, pasty mush.

You're not wrong, but the idea is that it has a longer shelf life, and perhaps more consistency in flavor.

Many American staples are throwbacks to the depression era, where buying a flat of Campbell's soup was a safer bet than buying a bunch of tomatoes and cream. Since then, marketers have capitalized on that sense of consistency, as well as feelings of nostalgia, to ingrain that sort of food into the American psyche.

> Had to Google 'sticks of butter', crazy Americans ;)

Where are you from? sticks of butter are a commonly understood quantity in Australia. Usually that's a safe bet that in other commonwealth countries it's the same.

In the UK butter is sold in 0.25 or 0.5 kg blocks, not sticks. Recipes call for butter by weight rather than volume (unless its tablespoon sized).

I'm in Australia and I don't think I've ever heard of it (except maybe glossing over American recipes online). I've always measured butter in grams. The packaging often has markers so you can roughly estimate to the nearest 50g but that is it as far as I know. If anything I might have assumed it was something approximating these 50g slices.

Not so common in Canada either, it's usually measured in grams.

    > Where are you from?

UK. As sibling commenters say, never seen a recipe asking for a stick, though it often comes with 50g divisions printed on the wrapping.

I don't think the amount of butter matters at all here... You're still eating Kraft mac n' cheese, which is 100% processed... You'd be better off just eating the stick of butter on its own.

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