How To Make Mac And Cheese, The Best Potluck Dish
There are few things more American that macaroni and cheese. If our nation's lore is correct the dish's origins run all the way back to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, apparently, was so in love with pasta dishes from a trip to Europe that he brought home a pasta machine to make his own, eventually putting the dish on the menu for a state dinner in 1802.
Though the genesis of mac and cheese is decidedly American, when most think of the famous cheese and noodle dish, most reach to the boxed variety Kraft foods introduced in 1937. Which is fine for most. But Brandon Fletcher thinks you can do better. For over a decade, Brandon has honed his homestyle mac and cheese recipe into something resembling the perfect delivery vehicle for cheesy goodness. And you should make it.
Sure, boxed mac and cheese will work in a pinch, but there's so much potential here. Homestyle mac and cheese allows for experimentation with flavors and textures that you miss when trying to whip something up in an instant.
It's the very nature of mac and cheese — an unabashedly indulgent dish — and the unspoken emotional weight of making it from scratch, that makes it a perfect dish to bring to potlucks.
"I would help my mom make mac and cheese during the holidays," says Fletcher. "She hurt her back, so I would help out cooking. It's a lot of work cooking for me, my dad and my two bothers."
It's not exactly considered a main, so the entire gathering isn't exactly riding on your one dish. That said, the carb influx of pasta suspended in a pool of thick cheesy goodness is just the perfect base to pile on anything and everything on offer. What's more, the added effort in preparing an elevated version of this comfort food staple reads to guests as just a big, warm hug on your plate.
Get The Cheese, The Macaroni And Everything Else
In terms of cooking technique, if you can whip up a pot of boxed mac and cheese, then you can definitely make your own from scratch. It does require an extra step of baking everything in a pan, but trust us when we say that the layer of crunchy breadcrumbs and crispy edges is most definitely worth it.
The version of mac and cheese that Brandon has developed over the years is a hybrid of two distinct styles in his eyes: restaurant style and home style.
Restaurant style has its roots firmly placed in the traditions of European pasta dishes, opting for a sauce made from one of the french mother sauces, béchamel, and leaves the macaroni al dente. The result of which is more of a solid chuck of pasta and cheese.
Homestyle, on the other hand, demands more cheese, a more thoroughly-cooked noodle, and crucially, a finishing milk-and-egg mixture before the whole thing is placed in the oven. The result is a more molten final product flecked with bits of egg that happily melds with anything else sitting on a plate next to it.
"I kinda fixed the things I don't like about restaurant style mac and cheese," says Brandon. "A lot of them cook their pasta al dente. We get it, al dente is a thing, but this is mac and cheese. This is comfort food."
One thing to consider before ingredients shopping is how much you enjoy cheese. What we listed below will be enough to deliver a decently-cheesy experience, but according to Brandon you can always push for more.
"I like to push things to the extreme sometimes," says Brandon. "It went from like 'Ah mom, how much cheese do you use?' to 'OK that's what she uses, I'm going to add another block or two."
Here's what you'll need.
- 32 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
- 16 ounces gruyere cheese, grated
- 8 ounces parmesan cheese, grated
- 16 ounces elbow macaroni
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
This here should be enough to fill a 10×15 inch baking dish, which should be able to feed anywhere between 4-8 people. In addition to the baking dish you'll need a cheese grater, a stock pot to cook the macaroni and a large saucepan to make the sauce in.
Make The Sauce
While Brandon isn't a huge fan of restaurant style, the one thing he borrows from it is the béchamel sauce. The butter, flour and milk mixture serves as his base for what becomes a mixture of cheeses, herbs and spices that is unique to him. "It's a milky, fatty sauce and I think that's a good thing to have in mac and cheese," he says.
Before you start making the sauce, fill up your stockpot with water, salt it heavily, and then get it boiling. Once boiling, add the macaroni and cook just slightly longer than the box recommends for al dente. For the sake of efficiency, you're going to want your macaroni fully cooked just as you're done making the sauce. In addition, pre-heat your oven to 400 F.
With that out of the way, set your saucepan to medium-high heat and add the butter. Once the butter is melted (but not browned!) add the flour and stir constantly until the butter-flour paste is lightly browned. Once browned, pour in the milk and stir until things are nice and thick.
Now here's where things get cheesy. Taking care to not crowd the pot, stir in half of the cheddar cheese, then all of the gruyere, and then finally half of the parmesan. Stir until the cheese is completely melted and fully incorporated into the sauce.
Afterwards, it's time to season: add the thyme, paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, mustard powder, spicy brown mustard, black pepper and nutmeg. Beat one egg in a bowl, and then add to the sauce, along with the sour cream. Stir to combine. Finally, take your cooked and drained pasta and add it to the sauce. Stir everything one last time to combine and then turn off the heat.
Layer It Up And Bake It
Now, what you have right here could definitely be considered mac and cheese. You could scoop some into a bowl and that'd be fine. But we want more than fine. We want a firm crunchy top hiding a bubbling reserve of cheese underneath. For that we're going to bake this stuff.
Grease your baking dish, and then layer in about a third of the mac and cheese mixture. Then, take about half of your reserved cheddar and add a layer of cheese on top of the macaroni. Add another layer of macaroni on top of that, then the rest of the cheddar, and then finally the rest of the macaroni.
Now, here's the crucial step. In a bowl, beat one egg with two cups milk, and then evenly pour that on top of the mac and cheese. "You get these bits of egg in the cheese sauce when it's done and it's good," says Brandon. "I found that in the black community most people add the egg and milk, even if they do other things, the egg and milk is always there."
The penultimate step to all of this is to add a layer of breadcrumbs and and the remaining parmesan on top. If you're feeling extra fancy, you can melt some butter in a pan and then toss the breadcrumbs in that, toasting them to a healthy golden brown.
With everything layered, go ahead and pop that thing into to oven, and let it bake for 20-30 minutes, until the top is evenly browned and things are nice and bubbly.
Now Just Freaking Enjoy It
Unlike pizza or dumplings, one of the joys of mac and cheese is the pure simplicity of it. It doesn't require its own event to fully enjoy, nor does it call for any special technique to make. Mix together the sauce, layer it up, bake it, scoop some out, put it on your plate, pair it with literally anything and then fork it all up.
"When you scoop into it, it should be a bunch of cheese and a clump of creamy macaroni mixture," says Brandon. "And the stretchiness of the cheese should be there."
While Brandon doesn't make mac and cheese all the time, it's one of those dishes he will always volunteer to make for family gatherings or celebrations. "During the holidays, our plates are like half mac and cheese and half everything else," says Brandon.
Maybe that's how best to think of homemade mac and cheese: a celebration dish. So congrats to you. You made it.
