


When the resulting meal came to the Thanksgiving table, we’d probably recognize it more as a type of lasagna or baked ziti–not the macaroni and cheese we know today.īut, that’s not to say that mac and cheese didn’t exist at all for our ancestors. On top of this, they alternated layers of boiled macaroni, canned tomatoes, and grated cheese until they filled their serving dish. But, then they sometimes added a tablespoon of canned tomatoes and then a layer of freshly grated cheese. Victorians made macaroni and cheese by first boiling the macaroni, which sounds normal enough. What exactly is a Victorian variation of mac and cheese?

You might have also seen things like cole slaw, fried oysters, and some Victorian variations of mac and cheese. cranberries (but not the canned type yet).If you were to look around the Thanksgiving dinner table in the 1880s, you would have seen many of the same foods we see today, like: But, they also cooked up entirely different dishes, and still called them macaroni and cheese anyway. Sure, the Victorians cooked casseroles filled with macaroni and cheese. In 1883, today’s mac and cheese hadn’t firmed up its modern-day identity yet. What Did Victorians Do to Mac and Cheese? So, like all exotic, confusing foods, mac and cheese made its way to holiday meals–like Thanksgiving dinner.
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They didn’t know how to cook it, eat it, or when to serve it. In the 19th century, many people still hadn’t heard of macaroni or tried it. But, what might surprise you would be, first, macaroni and cheese, and next, how it was viewed as an ‘upper-class’ kind of dish.Ī lot has changed since 1883. Is mac and cheese a Thanksgiving dish? Was Thanksgiving dinner different during Victorian times? If you were to sit down at a Thanksgiving table in 1883, you would see the familiar turkey, cranberry sauce and pies.
