We tried the wild mac and cheese recipe from Drake’s birthday party

Drake’s birthday party was quite an event this year — but maybe not for the best reason.

The now-34-year-old was upstaged by his party’s dinner menu, which featured a very strange plate of mac and cheese.

A description of the dish — which contained capers, sundried tomatoes and raisins (!!) — turned heads on social media. Theories abounded, with Twitter users suggesting it was either a typo or a nod to a traditional Jewish casserole. One way or another, Drake couldn’t have wanted raisins on his mac and cheese, right?

Either way, we, at In The Know, knew we had to try it.

So, we tossed on our “Hotline Bling” jackets, queued up a few Toronto Raptors highlight videos and hit the kitchen in an attempt to recreate the very strange dish that stole the stage at Drake’s birthday party.

How to make Drake’s birthday mac and cheese … with raisins

The first step to making a creation this out there is having the right tools, which is why we’re getting some help from one of Amazon’s trendiest gadgets. We give you: the Delightly easy-attach pasta strainer.

Credit: Amazon

This strainer, which you can simply slap onto whatever pot you’re cooking with, made the process a whole lot easier. Even if you aren’t looking to make mac and cheese with raisins, the strainer ($11.99 on Amazon) is worth getting.

Now, for everything else, we’ll need:

  • A box of macaroni or similar elbow pasta
  • A bag of raisins
  • Sun-dried tomatoes, from a jar or bag (Drake did not specify)
  • Fresh parsley
  • A small jar of capers
  • The melting cheese of your choice (we used sharp cheddar, but gruyere or gouda works great too)

Thankfully, the first steps of making this unhinged mac and cheese are totally normal. Boil water in a large saucepan, then add a pinch of salt and drop in your pasta (use the proportions suggested on the box for measurements). Then, turn down the heat a bit and cook until your pasta is softening and close to being fully cooked.

Next, attach the Delightly strainer and dump out the water, preserving a bit of moisture for cooking. After that, add a healthy serving of your cheese, preferably grated.

Finally, pray to the holy entity of your choosing and begin adding the toppings. We started with the tomatoes, then the capers, then the raisins — to avoid too much sweetness from mixing into the cheese. Turn the heat off and drop in some parsley leaves, stirring a few final times.

Now, you’re ready to try this thing.

OK, it’s not actually good, is it?

Should we start with the good news? With enough cheese (and we used a lot), there are parts of this dish that aren’t too bad. The sun-dried tomatoes — and even the capers — add a nice, savory addition to your cheese mix, but the positives stop there.

By this writer’s judgment, the raisins are … not a good idea. The tiny, pruned fruits are like landmines of sweetness hiding in the pasta, just waiting to explode during each unsuspecting bite. Sweet and savory can obviously be a winning combo when done right, but this is not one of those cases.

Also, from a texture perspective, there’s a lot of wrinkles in this dish. Between the tomatoes and the raisins, the meal sort of stops feeling like pasta at some point. It’s not the best feeling.

Should I make Drake’s birthday mac and cheese at home?

The easy answer: no way. Drake’s most popular song at the moment is called “Laugh Now Cry Later,” and that feels like a pretty accurate reaction to this dish. On some level, it was almost hilarious how weird this tasted.

That said, if you want to make mac and cheese with capers, parsley and sun-dried tomatoes, go for it! You won’t find a bad review for that combo here — but please, leave the raisins out of it.

The silver lining in this chaotic experience was the Delightly easy-attach strainer, which made the process a whole lot easier. For something like mac and cheese, it’s an absolute blessing to keep everything in one pan, even if the end result wasn’t so great.

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Check out In The Know’s video on how to make TikTok’s famous “croissant cereal.”

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