mac and cheese with evaporated milk versus roux

So now when I close my eyes and imagine the perfect comfort food macaroni and cheese, the dish the kid in me idealizes, I think of a velvety cheese sauce flavored boldly with real cheddar cheese. For some reason, my little brother was crazy for that crap, but not me.) (For the record, I never ate the stuff in the blue box.

I know it seems odd to give Kraft credit for one of my formative food experiences, but I still remember it as the moment that I, an impressionable teenager, tasted a creamy cheese sauce for the very first time. It came in the form of Velveeta Shells and Cheese. Then one day, I had dinner at a friend's house and discovered the joy of macaroni bathed in a cheese sauce. She cooked the pasta beyond al dente until it was tender, and she must've used cheddar or mozzarella or possibly Monterey jack but I can't remember for sure.

All gooey and stringy, that's how my mom would make it when I was a kid. Macaroni and cheese used to be a tangle of steaming spaghetti with butter and cheese melting into it and a generous grinding of black pepper on top.

Mac and cheese with evaporated milk versus roux