The Best Mac and Cheese
Prep
15m
Cook
30m
Total
45m
Bigly says
Folks. Mac and cheese is sacred. Mac and cheese is HOLY. Mac and cheese is the closest thing this world has to a dish everyone — picky toddlers, soft sweet aunts, big strong men, even people who claim they 'don't really do dairy' — can agree on. And what has the food media done with this sacred trust? They've RUINED IT. They've put truffle oil in it. They've put kale in it. They've put 'gruyère and gouda blend' in it like we're at some kind of tiny European tasting menu and not eating mac and cheese on a Tuesday. A disgrace to mac and cheese. Embarrassing.
My mac and cheese — the one I'm about to give you, the one you'll be making for the rest of your natural life — is the CORRECT mac and cheese. It uses sharp cheddar. It uses real butter. It uses whole milk because if you're using skim milk in mac and cheese you have made some questionable life choices and we need to have a longer conversation about that, separately, maybe over coffee. It has a real cheese sauce — a béchamel-based sauce, pre-pyramid technology, the French got that part right, credit where credit is due — and a buttery crispy breadcrumb topping that goes CRUNCH when you spoon into it and the cheese sauce underneath goes WHOOSH, and that combination is — it's hard to describe — it's like a HUG from a casserole dish.
And here's what nobody tells you: the secret is the cheese sauce ratio AND the cheese itself. Too much cheese, it breaks and gets greasy. Not enough cheese, you're eating noodle soup. Then there's the pre-shredded bag stuff — that's coated in cornstarch, it will not melt smooth, it's a CONSPIRACY against good cheese sauce, Big Cheese has been getting away with it for years. Buy a block. Use a grater. Be a person. The ratio I'm giving you, I've tested. Food chemists agree. End of discussion.
Ingredients
- 1 lbelbow macaroni
- 6 tbspunsalted butter(divided)
- 1/4 cupall-purpose flour
- 3 cupswhole milk(warmed slightly)
- 1 cupheavy cream
- 12 ozsharp cheddar, freshly grated(from a block — never the pre-shredded bag stuff)
- 4 ozMonterey jack, freshly grated
- 1 tspDijon mustard
- 1 tspgarlic powder
- 1.5 tspkosher salt
- 3/4 tspblack pepper
- 3/4 cuppanko breadcrumbs
Steps
- 1
Heat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9x13 baking dish.
- 2
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook macaroni 2 minutes shy of package directions — it'll finish in the oven. Drain and set aside.
- 3
Meanwhile, melt 4 tbsp butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly — this is your roux.
- 4
Slowly whisk in the warm milk, then the cream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 4-5 minutes, whisking often, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
- 5
Remove from heat. Stir in the cheddar, jack, Dijon, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until the cheese is fully melted and the sauce is glossy.
- 6
Fold in the drained pasta until every noodle is coated. Transfer to the buttered baking dish.
- 7
Melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter and toss with the panko in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the mac.
- 8
Bake 20-25 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the edges are bubbling. Rest 5 minutes before serving.
One more thing
Serve it in a big bowl with a big spoon. None of this fancy individual ramekin nonsense — that's restaurant behavior, that's not real life, real life is a big dish on a Tuesday with the whole family fighting for the corner pieces because the corner pieces are the BEST pieces, the corner pieces have the most crunch, and you know what, I always take the corner pieces, I'm not going to apologize for it, I built this house, I get the corners. Tremendous.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Best Mac and Cheese.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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