Mac N' Cheese

Here is a ridiculously over complex recipe, the one that I use.


Mac-n-Cheese
Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 tablespoon chile powder, Plowboy's Bovine Bold (more on this later)
2-1/2 cups Half & Half or whole milk.
1/2 cup sherry
2 cups cheddar cheese
1/2 cup each gruyere and smoked gouda
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped jalapeno

Pasta:
1 pound of macaroni or other suitable pasta shape. Prepared 'al dente' drained.

I start the process by using a small amount of oil to saute the onion, add the peppers after the peppers have softened and turned translucent. Meanwhile, I dice up very cold butter and mix it with the flour, presifted with the dry spices. Once the onion/pepper mix is softened, I add the butter/flour mix to the pan. This is cooked over low heat to make a blonde roux. Then the milk or half-n-half is added to make a white sauce, sherry is added to finish the sauce. The cheeses are then placed in a large bowl, the sauce added to make a cheese sauce. Toss this with the pasta and place into an oven or BBQ proof container. Since I planned on the kettle originally, I went with cast iron. I topped with a mix of walnut bread crumbs, panko and parmesan cheese. Into an oven for 45 minutes at 375F.

To make into bites, instead of using a large pan, use muffin tins. Or, make in a sheet pan, cut into small squares, dust in flour and panko and deep-fry.

Complex---yes, but a thing of beauty.

Waiting for "more on this later".

Make a basic baked mac and cheese and chill. Cut into bite size pieces and coat in bread crumbs and deep fry.

I've never heard of such a thing, but since I'm bored and it's cold outside. The pot of water is boiling on the stove now.

Kevin, we did the deep fry that thillin mentioned. It was on one of Paul Dean's shows. Good stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I should have removed that comment, it was from my blog. It refers to the change from my usual chile powder to Plowboy's as an experiment, just to see if I liked the flavor, which I did.

Here is some smoked mac and cheese I did awhile ago...I would be happy to give ya the recipe if interested....Smoked is the way to go...Those mac balls look great !

I have a recipe I use and it's good but landarc's looks better so I think I'll try that next time. I can get fresh New Mexico hatch from a local place so I use that instead of jalapenos. To me it has a better flavor but jalapeno would be good too.

I think I'm going to make mac n cheese tomorrow. I've never tried it on the smoker.

This thread has been classified as cruel and unusual punishment. Now I need mac & cheese...

Cruel and Unusual? No animals were hurt in the filming of my mac and cheese. There was some severe chopping of jalapenos, and the usual stupid rubbing of my eyes, but, no permanent damage was done. Yes, fire roasted hatch chiles would have been great, I had jalapenos available though.

I make that recipe I gave on the stove, then take it to the kettle for finishing in the smoke. I imagine you could use smoked cheese and make almost any recipe and get that smoky flavor.