Issues with mac and cheese.

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TravelingJ

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Hoping someone has some ideas on this one. I've tried several recipes, and none of them produce the results I want. Even when they say they will be creamy...that's not what I get. My goal is like what Beentown posted on this cook thread:

b1865674afcb09bd5ecdb8223b239aee.jpg


But instead, I end up with something that's more like an egg casserole dish:
 
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Im on my own mac and cheese quest. Yours looks like it went wrong in the white sauce. Possibly over reduced or separated. Im not really a French chef. The good example is too much cheese too me, although the pic is blurry so its hard to tell but i think i see oil/grease pooling. Perfection for me would lie in the middle.

My first suggestions would be to not bake it and add more cheese. Mac and cheese is an art...good luck

 
Well, on the one in my picture I was real careful to stop cooking the sauce as soon as all the cheeses were melted. I also was very conscious of stirring it so that nothing ever stuck to the bottom of the pot. When I put it in the pan, there was an insane amount of sauce, and it was almost like mac and cheese soup. My sister-in-law blamed overcooking/sticking to the pot on her issues last week, so I was trying to avoid that on mine.

You do make a good point about skipping the baking. I just wanted to pull off a 'smoked mac' but, a good mac trumps a split smoked one, I guess.
 
I'm in the same boat as you.....sorry to say, but I like Kraft for about 30 seconds after it's made. I've tried numerous recipes, and I think I've figured out that most Bechemel sauces are way too thick. Either half the flour or double the butter and you should be good. Also, don't be afraid to add more milk to thin. I like plain old sharp cheddar as the cheese to start. You can riff off that once you get the consistency you want. Once you're there, smoking will be awesome!
 
I've struggled some with getting good mac'n'cheese.

The key step for me, now, is to make sure I don't overcook it. It's a fine line between nailing it perfectly or overcooking and having it be dry.

I now give more consideration to "carry over cooking" that takes place after I remove from the grill or oven.

I look back to being a kid at Grandma's table and wonder how she got everything so perfectly cooked....with all the kids running afoot and too many people in her kitchen.
 
My daughter has a recipe that melts the cheese using the residual heat from the béchamel sauce and pasta rather than cooking it into the béchamel on the cooktop. I've only made it once but it came out perfect.

Will try to find it and post
 
I don't mess with anything complicated. My mac & cheese is a stovetop job and many in this area tell me it's the best they've ever had. I get the smoke flavor by using smoked sharp cheddar instead of baking it or smoking it and I don't make any kind of cheese sauce per se.

I use a quart or two of heavy cream and heat it in a double boiler. Then I'll add cheese until it's thick enough that the spoon leaves a small trace behind it as I stir it. I would suggest you use about half & half smoked cheddar and regular cheddar. The smoked is pretty powerful stuff. Then I add the pasta, pepper, granulated onion and bacon. No salt, you get all you need from the cheese and bacon.

With mine there are a couple of other cheeses involved but you get the idea. The whole process of making a roux and adding 20 different cheeses along with butter was a waste of time and effort for me. Eliminating the butter solves the issue of the sauce separating and doesn't hurt the flavor at all.

View attachment 150630
 
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As above, I melt the cheese in the béchamel with the residual heat after it's cooked but despite the heresy, what really helps is some amount of velveeta. Even if I've got 20 oz of high dollar cheese (I love at least 8 oz of gruyere), about 4 oz of velveeta in there assures it will be creamy.
 
I make and smoke all at the same time. It helps not to turn casserole like.

I use half and half for the bechumel. It needs to be thinner than most think. I grate my own cheese also. I par cook the noodles to just before al-dente.

When I get home I will detail how I do it down to adding turmeric powder for color.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Thanks everyone! Some really good tips in here. I have been grating my own cheese, for the record. That was one of the first things that was suggested to me, so I switched that over pretty quickly.

i think I'm going to try some of the stovetop deals, and maybe even that sodium citrate stuff, for something different.
 
My wife makes the Mac n Cheese, I just smoke it, I know she adds some Gouda in, it comes out awesome. I enjoy it as much as whatever else, I'm smoking on that day.

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dumping in a bunch of velvetta usually does the trick for me
 
I'm on the opposite side of the coin from most of you guys. I don't like creamy, pot stirred mac & cheese. I like the baked, egg custard type. It's drier & you cut it with your fork. It's what I call "real" mac & cheese since that's what all the grandma-types made out in the country where I grew up.

My wife also happens to like the baked type...and that's how they make it where she's from in the Caribbean. They call it macaroni pie.
 
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