![]() Though it's outclassed by Cracker Barrel, the original deserves credit for making a meal your body knows can't possibly be real taste so damn tasty. In the mac-and-cheese world, the word "deluxe" is synonymous with the velvety and luxurious cheese spread that slides out of a foil bag and into your mouth via tiny little elbow pastas. That distinct Kraft flavor we know and love is there, and it happens to be presented in weird little squares that are perfect vehicles for cheese delivery. ![]() I think I'll stick with my modified preparation of the original Spirals.The peculiar shape of this cult-favorite Kraft variety creates an unfair advantage over the regular stuff, but SpongeBob rules, and everyone knows this is totally worth the extra 30 cents. I don't recall this from the original product, but I can't imagine they are actually using a different sauce here, so presumably it's just in the preparation. Last, and this may be related to the lack of butter, it had a sort of odd metallic/minerally aftertaste that lingered for a while after I finished it. With these larger spirals the sauce is actually attached to pasta, decreasing the sauce-to-pasta ratio: maybe my Italian friends would appreciate this shift, but I'm not sold. My usual technique for the regular spirals results in a very over-sauced pasta, but that was the whole point, and I was OK with it. Point two: the larger spirals hold more cheez, and that's good, to a point. But there is at least some historical justification for the sextupling of the butter quantity in the preparation. I have no idea if they actually changed the formula for the cheez to compensate, or if they just figured no one would notice. This newfangled stuff calls for 1/2 tablespoon of butter. My basic verdict: needs more butter! Now, before you think I've gone all Paula Dean on you: in the old days, the spiral variety called for three tablespoons of margarine per box. But-and I realize this throws all sense of fair comparison out the window-for this review I followed the package instructions to the letter, using all of the pasta, and not cranking up the quantity of butter. So by Kraft's definition I was already eating "cheddar explosion." In theory, this stuff should be right up my alley. Second, I discard about 1/3 of the pasta, but use the full amount of sauce. For starters, I actually use the "classic" proportions of milk and butter, which results in a much higher fat sauce. So again, in the interest of full disclosure: I never prepare the spiral variety according to the package directions. Here is the packaging in all it's explosion-tastic glory: ![]() (*than our regular macaroni & cheese dinner) ![]()
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