Baked mac and cheese
ANTI-CHEF · ♥ 9.2K likes · 121.5K views · 16 min video
Read about cheddar in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 1½ tbsp salt
- 227 g sharp cheddar
- 113 g Gruyere cheese
- 113 g Monterey Jack
Bring a big pot of water to a boil and salt it heavily.
- 2 oz Parmesan Reggiano
Grate the Parmesan by hand and the cheddar, Gruyere and Monterey Jack through the food processor.
- 113 g ham (optional)
- 340 g elbow macaroni
Cut the ham into a small cube dice.
Cook the macaroni to just under al dente, about 10 minutes where the box says 11.
Cooking the macaroni just under al dente
- butter
Do not rinse the pasta; toss it with a knob of butter to stop it cooking and keep it from sticking.
Why not to rinse the pasta
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp flour
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook one to two minutes until smooth.
- 4½ cups whole milk
Whisk the warmed whole milk into the roux and stir and simmer gently until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
- 2 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- nutmeg
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- salt
- white pepper
Turn the heat to low and add the mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, salt and white pepper.
- 1 oz Parmesan Reggiano
Off or on low heat, stir in the cheddar, Gruyere, Monterey Jack and the Parmesan until melted.
Stir in the ham, then the macaroni, and coat it all; check the seasoning and add more salt and white pepper.
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 14 g Gruyere
- 42½ g Parmesan Reggiano
- 2–3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
Mix the chopped thyme with the topping Gruyere, Parmesan and panko.
Thyme, cheese and panko topping
- butter
Butter the baking dish generously, spread the mac and cheese in and scatter the breadcrumb topping over.