Why do you need an egg when cooking macaroni & cheese?

Answer 1

it binds the macaroni together as it's a binding agent. it's also very tasty

Answer 2

I never did, and neither did my mother or any of my siblings.

It's just the recipe that you're using. There are plenty of others.

Here's the general idea for making mac & cheese.

Start the water boiling for the pasta. While it come to a boil, and in another pot, prepare a roux. That means you combine flour with an equal amount of fat (generally butter) over medium low until the flour has fully incorporated the oil and the raw flour taste has been cooked out. At that point, slowly whisk in whatever amount of milk you wich, but it needs to be COLD. COntinue to stir this together until it thickens, Season with salt, pepper, some dry mustard, and maybe a bit of nutmeg, and stir in the shredded chese(s), as much as you want. Stir until melted.

By this time, the pasta should be done, and your oven preheated. Combine the pasta with the cheese sause, and pour into your casserole dish. Sprinkly lightly with bread crumbs and bake at 350F until it bubbles around the edges.

Each of the flour, the cheese and the starch on the pasta is a binding agent.


If you were to add an egg, the only somewhat logical place would be as part of the sauce. But that way, you wouldn't be making the classic French mother sauce, bechamel, and then changing into a white sauce. You'd be making a pastry creme instead, and that's a whole different thing entirely.

Answer 3

I've been making macaroni cheese all my life and never heard of using an egg until now ... some people would incorporate an egg into the sauce as a thickening agent (although my experience of trying to do that has always ended up with a sauce full of bits of scrambled egg - yuck!) but it's definitely not compulsory.

Answer 4

I use an eggs when I make my Al Fredo sauce. The egg binds the cheese and the heavy cream together and helps thicken the sauce. Since as another poster noted scrambled eggs are not a desirable sauce characteristic you must do what is called tempering the egg into the sauce.. To temper an egg ; bring your sauce up to temp- a slow simmer is fine. In a medium sized bowl scramble your egg . Using a ladle , slowly pour a small amount of the hot sauce into the bowl whisking all the while, continue the process until about a cup or so of the sauce is incorporated into the egg. If you have any pieces of egg floating strain them out using a fine mesh strainer. slowly pour your now strained egg mixture back into the sauce pot again whisking all along.
Enjoy.

Answer 5

You don't, but everybody has their own recipe:
Done & Gone Mac & Cheese

5 C Lrg. Elbow Macaroni
1/2 lb. Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
1/2 lb. Longhorn Cheddar Cheese, grated
1/2 lb. Mexican Ranchero Cheese, crumbled
1 C Milk
1 1/2 C Crumbled Cheeto’s

Cook the Mac al dente, not quite done
Combine all the Cheeses
Layer Cheese and Mac, Cheese and Mac
Pour in the Milk
Top with Cheeto’s
Bake 45 min. @ 350
Footnote: This also is good with chopped Ham mixed with the Cheese.
Kids love it with Hot Dogs on Top, put them on top the last 15min.

Answer 6

WHAT? I have cooked mac and cheese for years to my kids, the recipe on the box never said to put an egg in it.

Answer 7

You dont need an egg in it.And the best hint for eggs is dont use them unless you have to.Too much cholesterol.They say one egg a day is plenty.

Answer 8

If you're cooking it from the box, like from Kraft or something, all you need is water to boil the noodles in, the powdered cheese that comes in the box, milk, and butter. That's all!

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Answer 9

i bake my mac and cheese and i dont use eggs and it binds perfectly every time!

Answer 10

You don't unless you're baking it. Then it acts as a binder to hold everything together so it can be cut in equal portions.