A binding bellyful of macaroni and cheese won’t help you soar above the Bromo Seltzer Tower, but could it set you free?
If the scrumptious starch comes out of Freda Sheppard’s kitchen near Mervo High School and the Alameda, it just might.
Sheppard, a 1992 graduate of Dunbar High School, calls herself “Queen Free” — at least on her e-mail address — explaining: “I carry and treat myself like the queen that I am . . . Free is short for Freda.”
The true measure of Sheppard’s mac and cheese? Whether it can be eaten cold the following day with pleasure.
“When I first started making it, it wasn’t that good,” said Sheppard, a city employee. “But I knew I had it down when you could eat it cold, and it was still good and creamy.”
[In Joan Schwart’s 2001 cookbook “Macaroni & Cheese” from Villard — an imprint of Random House — the author lists 52 ways to make the classic All-American comfort food. Sheppard’s version is good enough for a new edition of 53 recipes.]
Sheppard, who enjoyed the bounty of firehouse cooking right out of high school while an EMT on a city medic wagon, grew up helping her mother in the kitchen, learning to clean and cut up raw chicken at the age of 8. In a few years, she was prepping and boxing up dinners that Mom sold out of the back door.
She has taken all of this knowledge, along with her hard-earned standard for world-class macaroni and cheese, and put it into “Ethnicity Catering,” a side business that brings satisfaction and a few extra dollars to a house where she and husband Curtis are raising four children.
The oldest, Curreda, 15, now helps her mom in the kitchen the way Sheppard once helped hers — it’s a good place for heart-to-heart talks, says Freda — and the City College student has recently mastered Swedish meat balls.
“The reason I got into catering is I love to see people enjoy food,” said Sheppard, who tends toward low-fat stir-fry and grilled meats at home. “When there’s an affair people usually remember the decorations and the food . . . I’m happy when they go home and talk about my food.”
Curtis Sheppard, who works as a counselor to teenage boys, is especially fond of his wife’s Jamaican “jerk” potatoes and is completing his first book, a collection of insights into relationships.
Just how complicated, wonders Freda, can it be?
“Who,” she asks, “don’t want someone who can cook?”
Queen Free’s homemade mac and cheese
(Serves 10)
» 2 pounds macaroni noodles
» 3 eggs
» 8-ounce block sharp cheddar cheese, chopped
» 8-ounce block Colby cheese, chopped
» 8-ounce block mild cheddar, chopped
» 16 ounces Velveeta cheese, chopped
» 2 cups half-and-half ultra pasteurized
» 1 stick margarine
» 1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350. Boil 10 cups of water. Add salt. Add macaroni to boiling water, cook until tender, drain and pour into large bowl. While noodles are still hot, add margarine and all cheeses to noodles. Stir with spoon to allow cheese and margarine to melt. Add half-and-half and eggs. Stir until absorbed into mix. Pour the entire mixture into a reasonable-sized square pan. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until lightly brown.
Rafael Alvarez can be reached at [email protected]
