One thing that makes this dish so special is the cheese sauce. Many of the recipes for macaroni and cheese that I found online have one prepare a roux, which is a mixture of flour and some kind of fat that is used to thicken a sauce. For the roux I melted butter and salt with some flour, and prepared the cheese sauce in the same saucepan. To the roux I added plenty of milk, and then the mixture of shredded cheeses. This cheese, milk, and roux mixture must be continuously stirred so it does not burn on the bottom of the pan. About the same time that I noticed the cheese had melted almost completely, I discovered that the consistency of the sauce was changing. As I stirred it until it was boiling, the sauce thickened up quite well.
So in this experiment, I learned what a roux is and how to make it. I also learned that sharp cheddar keeps its cheese flavor better than milder cheddars in this dish and how to make a cheese sauce. But most importantly I learned how to cook something that I love to eat and something that both adults and children like to eat. This macaroni and cheese was rather fun to make, and not quite as difficult as the risotto that I made last week. I'm very happy with how it turned out.