How to Make Our Favorite Macaroni Salad

There are many different types of

macaroni

salad

and Hawaii has its own version and today Natalie will show us how to

make

it. Hello Julia. Hi, I'm sure you've tried many versions of

macaroni

salad

, but a Hawaiian one. Macaroni salad usually has a creamy mayonnaise-based dressing thinned with a little milk, crunchy celery, and pasta cooked until greasy, passing it past al dente, so before we start with the dressing, we'll start with the pasta this way. It is four quarts of boiling water and to this we are going to add a tablespoon of salt and then we are going to add a pound of elbow macaroni.

We are going to leave it for about 15 minutes or until it is very soft. 15 minutes is a long cooking time, macaroni usually lasts about 10 minutes, so 15 minutes will be very soft, we'll start with the dressing, so that's two cups of whole milk and to this we'll add two cups of mayonnaise. whole milk, not low-fat milk, low-fat milk will

make

the dressing too runny. To this we will add a tablespoon of brown sugar and then two teaspoons of black pepper and then half a teaspoon of salt. and we're going to mix this until it's well combined and then we're going to set aside a cup of this dressing, so now that our dressing is made, we're just going to wait until our pasta is cooked through, so that's it. 15 minutes and our pasta looks pretty cooked, but we need to taste it to make sure it's done oh yeah so we're going to turn this off and we're going to drain it so while it's cooling we're going to add half a cup of cider vinegar in Instead of adding it to the dressing, we're adding it to the pasta so it's absorbed, but also the vinegar made the dressing curdle and that wasn't pretty, it sounds gross, so we do it.

We're mixing in the cider vinegar and we're going to stir it until it's completely absorbed as it cools, we're going to prep our greens, so we're going to start with four scallions and we're just going to remove the tips, don't remove too much of the white part, and we're going to cut them into pretty thin slices, so that's going to be four scallions, so I'm just going to add these scallions to the bowl that already has one grated carrot, just one carrot. just a carrot and then this is a rib of celery, so I'm going to cut it in half for a little bit easier and then I'm going to cut these guys into boards and then I'm going to cut them this way, we want them to be thinner. chop a large rib of celery finely chopped to make it celery chives and the carrot and of course the carrot is traditional in a Hawaiian macaroni salad okay so the pasta is cold now it's been about 10 minutes and to this we're going to add our dressing and our vegetables and we want it to be cold enough to handle so the vegetables don't cook into the pasta and then we'll add our vegetables as well.

Very pretty, I actually love the colors of the scallions and the carrots in there, it's beautiful, we're just going to mix this until it's fully incorporated, it's done, we're going to refrigerate this for at least an hour, but it can be made up to two days ahead okay so this is our macaroni salad has been chilling for about an hour and this is the cup of dressing that we had set aside earlier so one cup goes here and just stir until it's fully incorporated . Now that it's fully incorporated, let's just season it. taste, so the dressing was well seasoned, so we're just going to add a little bit of pepper, it doesn't really need salt, okay, it's done, we can put it in our serving bowl, which is now delicious. it's time to eat don't hold back my portion oh no I won't really it's a good looking macaroni salad and I don't think I've said that before yes, it's not like the typical ones you see where it's like something soft, not very appetizing, it's creamy and decadent and it's got a little bit of color to it, that's right, natalie, this is delicious, that spoonful of brown sugar in it really brings out some of the vegetable flavors, like the carrot, that's it. it balances everything it's very tart it's creamy you need a little bit of sugar yeah and you know most macaroni salads are pretty bland all you get is a little bit of mayonnaise this i get the pepper i get the vinegar i love scallions that little bit of sweetness A long way and I think adding that dose of fresh dressing just before serving really livened up all the flavors it made a big difference Natalie this is delicious thank you I'm glad you like it Julia so if you want to make this delicious Hawaiian Macaroni Salad. start by cooking the macaroni until greasy make a simple dressing with milk and mayonnaise and reserve some separately to serve once the pasta is cooked and drained mix it with a little vinegar and let it cool before adding the dressing and vegetables, including celery chives. and carrot Finally, let the salad chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving with the remaining dressing and there you have it from Cook's Country, a really great recipe for Hawaiian Macaroni Salad.

This is really good, thanks for watching Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen. So what do you think? Leave a comment and tell us what recipes you're excited to make or just say hello. You can now find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description and don't forget to subscribe to our channel. you then alligator