When you find yourself daydreaming about Mac and Cheese, chances are it will be one of the versions offered in this chapter. These are traditional American recipes relying on the primary ingredients: pasta, familiar cheeses, and perhaps tomatoes or onions. This is the place to do your Mac and Cheese research, as it features crisp-crusted baked versions as well as a creamy one quickly made on the stovetop and helps you to master béchamel—the cheese-infused white sauce—or to forgo it entirely.

Here are the versions we know best as pure comfort food, easily put together and guaranteed to satisfy. Creations by Matthew Kenney, Mitchel London, John DeLucie, Ilene Rosen, Barbara Shinn and David Page, Fairway Market's Michael O'Neill, Keith Dresser, José Arturo Molina, and Ira Freehof (of Comfort Diner fame) are luxurious cheese and béchamel combinations that characterize the Macs of our dreams. Think rich, creamy, smooth, cheesy, chewy, savory, and mouthwatering.

They are followed by some kitchen treasures that combine cheese and pasta without the extra step of making a béchamel (some say they are the purest versions). Henry Archer Meer's City Hall Mac and Cheese is simple and sophisticated; Wylie DuFresne's Ten-Minute Mac and Cheese relies on that palate pleaser, American cheese, in a magically quick stovetop dish; and my Simple Mac and Cheese for Two requires minimal time. Memory speaks in Mitchell Davis's Tomatoey Mac and Cheese and Joyce Wilder's Mom's Mac and Cheese with Tomatoes (both come to us courtesy of actual moms); while Leslie Holley-McKen takes us back to the Queens of her childhood, where macaroni and cheese was a special Sunday-night treat.

Mac and Cheddar Salad will help you cool down without forgetting your roots, although it is not quite as traditional as some of the other dishes here. Heaped in a sparkling crystal bowl and glittering with chunks of colorful, crisp vegetables and fresh cheese, it makes a beautiful addition to a summer party. (For a Greek macaroni salad with feta cheese, see Part 3.)

That's the starting lineup, so don't wait any longer—pick a Mac (or several) and dig in!