Trinidad Macaroni Pie
Macaroni bound with eggs, evaporated milk and cheddar, seasoned with onion, dry mustard and a little Scotch bonnet, then baked firm under a paprika-dusted top and cut into squares.
In Trinidad and Tobago, macaroni pie is Sunday lunch. Chris De La Rosa of CaribbeanPot.com remembers coming home from Sunday morning football or cricket to a house full of the smell of Sunday lunch, and calls macaroni pie an integral part of a Trinbagonian Sunday lunch, next to rice, stewed or baked chicken, callaloo or stewed red beans, plantain, sweet potato and salad (September 14, 2009:). He admits he was never a fan as a boy, then confesses the smell got him anyway. The pie is baked firm enough to cut in squares, a different animal from creamy American mac. The most-cited traditional recipe is the one in the Naparima Girls' High School cookbook, first published in 1988 for the school's Diamond Jubilee and a bestseller since. Wikipedia notes the dish is often served as a side with stewed meats and has been called a staple food in Tobago.
Why it works the kitchen science
Less liquid, more set
One can of evaporated milk and two eggs for a whole 14 oz of pasta gives a pie that cuts into clean squares, not a creamy spoon dish.
Undercook the pasta
Pulling the macaroni a few minutes early lets it soak up the custard in the oven instead of turning soft.
Step by step
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it and cook the macaroni 5 to 8 minutes, until just short of tender. It will finish in the oven.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, whisk the onion, Scotch bonnet, dry mustard, black pepper, salt, eggs, butter and evaporated milk in a large bowl. Stir in all but 1/2 cup of the cheese.
- Step 3
Heat the oven to 350°F and grease a deep baking dish well, as you would a cake pan.
- Step 4
Drain the macaroni, let it cool a few minutes so it doesn't scramble the eggs, and stir it into the custard.
- Step 5
Scrape it into the dish, press it down with a spoon and level the top. Scatter the reserved cheese over it and dust with paprika.
- Step 6
Bake on the middle rack 30 to 40 minutes, until firm and golden on top. The center should read at least 160°F.
- Step 7
Let it cool about 10 minutes, then cut into squares.
Trinidad Macaroni Pie
Serves 8 (as a side) · one deep 9 by 13-inch dish or equivalent · 1 hr 15 min total
Pasta
- 14 oz macaroni (long Trinidad-style macaroni or elbows)
- Salt for the water
Custard
- 2 large eggs
- 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
- 2 tbsp butter, softened or melted, plus more for the dish
- 1/2 medium onion, diced very fine or grated
- 1/4 Scotch bonnet or habanero, seeded and minced very fine (optional)
- 1/3 tsp dry mustard
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Fresh black pepper
Cheese and top
- 2 1/4 cups grated medium cheddar (about 9 oz), divided
- Paprika, for dusting
Method
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it and cook the macaroni 5 to 8 minutes, until just short of tender. It will finish in the oven.
- Meanwhile, whisk the onion, Scotch bonnet, dry mustard, black pepper, salt, eggs, butter and evaporated milk in a large bowl. Stir in all but 1/2 cup of the cheese.
- Heat the oven to 350°F and grease a deep baking dish well, as you would a cake pan.
- Drain the macaroni, let it cool a few minutes so it doesn't scramble the eggs, and stir it into the custard.
- Scrape it into the dish, press it down with a spoon and level the top. Scatter the reserved cheese over it and dust with paprika.
- Bake on the middle rack 30 to 40 minutes, until firm and golden on top. The center should read at least 160°F.
- Let it cool about 10 minutes, then cut into squares.
Adapted from Chris De La Rosa, "A chef d'oeuvre macaroni pie", CaribbeanPot.com (2009). Amounts, oven temperature and bake time are his; he does not give a serving count or a pan size (he says "fairly deep"), so 8 side servings and the pan are our estimates. The 160°F center check is from the USDA chart (see Food safety baseline). We did not see the Naparima Girls' recipe itself. caribbeanpot.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- De La Rosa suggests grating the onion, or using onion powder, if you don't like biting into onion, and says sweet onions such as Vidalia keep it from tasting too oniony.
- For less heat, leave out the Scotch bonnet seeds and the part near the stem.
- He also suggests crumbling a chicken bouillon cube into the custard for more flavor.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- A Sunday lunch dish. Documented (Chris De La Rosa, CaribbeanPot.com).
- Eggs and evaporated milk, not a flour sauce. Documented for the traditional style: De La Rosa's recipe uses both, and news coverage of the dish describes the Naparima Girls' version the same way (search results only). Some modern Caribbean versions use a flour-and-milk sauce instead, such as the "Ultimate" macaroni pie on CaribbeanPot.com by a guest chef.
- When the Naparima Girls' cookbook first came out. Disputed: the school says 1988; one Caribbean travel site (search summary only) says 1987.
- Scottish settlers brought the cheddar to Trinidad. Folklore: Wikipedia says so with a single citation we did not read.
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