This Is The World Record For The Largest Mac And Cheese Ever Made

Macaroni and cheese is an unlikely superstar in the food world. For years, it's been one of the pillar of poverty cuisine, known for being something that can be thrown together in a hurry since most of the ingredients can be found in a handy little package. In recent years, however, people are claiming to be "obsessed" with the stuff, and there are now entire restaurants devoted to serving something that once appeared in the dictionary next to the phrase "plain and ordinary." Still, not everyone is a fan of cheesy carbs. A survey about people's least-favorite comfort foods found that the majority (25%) of poll respondents would gladly do without macaroni and cheese.

Even if you absolutely love mac and cheese, though, you'd probably admit there can be too much of a good thing — like, 2,500 pounds' worth. Okay, we're exaggerating just a teensy bit here. As far as we know, the world has never seen a plate of mac and cheese that weighs in at a ton and a quarter. As it stands, the current Guinness world record is held by a dish that tipped the scales at just 2,469 pounds.

The mastermind behind this cheesy colossus was the Louisiana-based Cajun/Creole foods conglomerate Chef John Folse & Company in conjunction with Vermont cheese maker Cabot Creamery Cooperative. While we don't know whether the dish was Cajun-spiced, the involvement of the latter company guaranteed that it would be made with real cheese rather than the powdery stuff. Thanks to Guinness, we learned that in addition to 286 pounds of cheese, the ingredients included 575 pounds of macaroni, 56 pounds of butter, 26 pounds of flour, 1,100 pounds of milk (a pint weighs a pound, so this translates to just over 137 gallons), and 61 pounds of some type of seasoning blend.

The mammoth mac and cheese was cooked up in New Orleans' Fulton Square on September 23, 2010, and it was cooked in a cast-iron cauldron that itself weighed 1,902 pounds. This means that the weight of the pot when filled would have been 4,371 pounds, which, according to MechanicBase, is more than that of the average car (4,094 pounds).

According to a press release (via PR Newswire) announcing Guinness' certification of the mac and cheese's record-holding status, this prodigious pot of pasta didn't just break the previous record. No, it stomped that record flat like the macaroni monster it was, since the previous incumbent weighed in at a measly 414 pounds. The new cheesy champion was created in front of a crowd of 2,000, 1,500 of whom forked over $5 for a souvenir "all-you-can-eat" pasta bowl. It's quite likely that more potential pasta eaters would have wanted a taste, but the bowls sold out quickly. All the profits went to benefit New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, which is a worthy cause in any year. However, 2010 was just five years after Hurricane Katrina, so at that time, NOAHH had plenty on its plate (apart from a pile of mac and cheese).

One additional note of historical interest: The kettle in which the mac and cheese was cooked dated from 1797! It was originally used as a sugar kettle. When it was pressed into service to break a world record, a forklift was used to bring it into position.