Today marks the debut of a feature that I’ve been tossing around in my head for over a year now. I doubt I’ve ever mentioned it here on the site, but my love for good food almost matches my passion for all things music, and over the past few years I’ve been discovering the pleasures of cooking. In addition to the various ingredients and spices, you’ll also find two indispensable items in my kitchen while I’m preparing a meal: an alcoholic beverage and a stereo. The first is pretty obvious, but the second holds a certain fascination with me. Wine and beer connoisseurs have been pairing food and drink together for centuries, but what about food and music? I’ve been experimenting with musical compliments to my meals almost as long as I’ve been cooking, and I’ve found that there is something deeply rewarding in choosing the perfect aural counterpart to a favorite dish. Why not satiate the ears as well as the hungry stomach?

“Modern Audiac Cuisine” is a nod to the Stereolab album of a similar name and will serve as a place to share some of my favorite culinary and musical pairings. I’ll try to steer away from the obvious (ex. enchiladas and mariachi music or Italian food and a Morricone soundtrack) and will always provide a (hopefully insightful) context for each selection. Novice cooks fear not, as you won’t find any exotic emulsions or fragrant infusions in any of the recipes. My tastes tend to lean more towards the simple, clean, and fast. And by all means, use the comments board to offer alternative ingredients or other ideas and suggestions for musical pairings.

Let’s start with an easy one first: a seriously gourmet-ass dish that tastes more complex than it is, which also happens to be the best homemade mac and cheese I’ve ever tasted.

Gruyère Macaroni and Cheese with Prosciutto
Serves four

10 oz cavatappi or other corkscrew pasta
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups grated Gruyère cheese (about 8 oz.), divided
3/4 cup whole milk
4 oz. Prosciutto di Parma, roughly chopped
3 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter 9” x 9” baking dish. Cook pasta as directed in a large pot of boiling salted water and drain well.

While pasta is cooking, whip cream in large mixing bowl. Whisk in 1 cup of Gruyère, milk, prosciutto, parmesan, and nutmeg. Add pasta and toss to coat, then season with salt and pepper. Transfer to prepared baking dish and sprinkle remaining 1 cup Gruyere on top.

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until cheese has melted. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes:

For an appropriate side, steam some fresh green beans with a tablespoon of butter for about 5 minutes, then sprinkle with toasted almonds. You can’t beat that with a bat.

“It was good, but it was too runny.” This is the standard response from many first-timers, and it’s usually because they overcooked the pasta or served the mac and cheese immediately once it came out of the oven. There are three ways to prevent your mac and cheese from leaking all over the plate when served:

• Whip the hell out of the cream until it’s thick and fluffy. Don’t stir it lightly with the whisk a few times then add the other ingredients. Your arm and wrist should be tired by the time you’re done whisking.

• Cook the pasta just shy of al dente; for example, if the box says 8 minutes, cook it for 6. The pasta will absorb more of the milk while it’s baking in the oven.

• Let the mac and cheese sit for 5 full minutes before serving. It’s going to be too hot to eat immediately anyway, so let some of the moisture escape.

I prefer corkscrew pasta (cavatappi and cellentani, or even rotini and fusilli would work), but common elbow macaroni is fine as well – just add another ounce or two to even out the volume.

Remember to take it easy on the salt when seasoning – the prosciutto adds a sweet saltiness to the mix already.

Whole Foods sells a tangy, buttery Gruyère that’s delicious and cheaper than most Gruyères I’ve seen elsewhere.

To keep the prosciutto from clumping, add one little piece at a time to the milk and cheese mixture. Yeah, it’s tedious, but it’s worth it.

I prefer my mac and cheese with a nutty spiciness by adding 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg and freshly ground black pepper. If you’re feeling adventurous you could add a dash of white truffle oil just before serving, but I attempted this once and found the dish better without it.

If Prosciutto di Parma isn’t in your budget, don’t bother with domestic or Canadian prosciutto as a substitute. Add a few links of sliced and cooked andouille sausage instead.

I suppose you could save any leftovers here, but I’ve found from experience that this particular mac and cheese recipe doesn’t hold up in the microwave.

Pinetop Seven “The Palm Acres Parade” Bringing Home the Last Great Strike Atavistic 2000

For most, mac and cheese is the very definition of comfort food. For the aural pairing, it’s natural that one would wish for the same warm coziness to highlight and not work against the dish. The hugely underrated Chicago collective Pinetop Seven, and particularly their shining hour, Bringing Home the Last Great Strike (2000), are the kind of band to curl up with on a frigid January evening and make a wonderful complement to the meal here. The drugged waltz feel and soft melancholy of “The Palm Acres Parade” encourages, almost begs the listener to savor every bite: the delicate tenor of Darren Richard mirrors the rich silkiness of the Gruyère while the clarinets emphasize the dominant French influence in the dish, and the expansive, widescreen atmosphere present in the recording resonates with the inherent heartiness of the mac and cheese. It’s immensely satisfying to the point of tranquility. Cue this up on the hi-fi before serving and watch your diners bring a new definition to the phrase “food coma” at the conclusion of dinner.

“The Palm Acres Parade” – Pinetop Seven 3:56 (Bringing Home the Last Great Strike, Atavistic 2000)