Reading Nook: 'Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese'

I found the title and cover of Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese by Stephanie Stiavetti and Garrett McCord hard to resist.

After all, except for the rare cheese-and-pasta-intolerant, who doesn’t love creamy, gooey mac ’n’ cheese?

The problem is, as delectable as the recipes sound and as mouth-wateringly delicious as the photographs look, I’ll likely never know if many of the recipes in Melt are as good as they look. You see, Melt relies on “artisanal” cheeses - the kind only available at specialty cheese shops - in its recipes. Even with the long lists of multiple substitution options, many of the cheeses featured in Melt were elusive - even at my supermarket’s very well stocked cheese counter. For example, the recipe Yogurt Chicken Salad With Abbaye De Bel’loc and Fusilli suggests Carr Valley Benedictine, Hidden Springs Creamery O’Cooch Mountain, Gabietou and Shepherd’s Way Farms Friesago as alternate cheeses. I had never heard of these, let alone knew where to buy them.

But not all of the recipes call for small-batch, extremely localized or hard to-find exotic cheeses. I was able to make Cauliflower and Gruyere Macaroni Gratin with ingredients bought at my neighborhood Kroger.

Montgomery Cheddar Macaroni With Baked Apples required only finding an aged British cheddar (also available at my neighborhood Kroger). And as long as I was willing to overlook the inaccuracy of the name after I made it, Chili Mac With Redwood Hill Smoked Goat Cheddar turned out just fine using smoked cow’s milk cheddar. Blue cheese and buffalo wing fans won’t want to miss Buffalo Chicken Macaroni With Buttermilk Blue Cheese Sauce.

So if you’re one who likes to cook her way through a book, preparing as many recipes as possible, Melt will likely disappoint (unless you have a cheese monger in your neighborhood). But if you’re the kind of cook who enjoys reading recipes as much as or more than actually making them, or if you’re willing to improvise, Melt will have something to offer.