- If you're looking for
the ultimate comfort food, you've got to make a big, old batch of my baked mac and cheese recipe. Creamy, delicious, amazing. And did I mention the
fried bread crumbs on top? They are everything. And you're watching Preppy
Kitchen were I, John Kanell, teach you how to make
delicious homemade dishes to share with your family and friends. This baked mac and cheese will
be ready before you know it. So, let's get started. First off, let's grate the cheese. I'm using sharp cheddar and Gruyere. If you want to use your
favorite cheese, go ahead. I personally like using a
nice, creamy Gouda in here. Red cheddar, it's delicious. If you can find it. Our prep work is all done, now it's time to make some pasta. You can't make pasta without water, so fill a large pot up. Might be a minute. Put that water over heat and let's add a big, old spoonful of salt. I'm making classic elbows, but shells are a really
nice choice as well. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add your pasta, give it a
stir and cook to instructions. Once that's done, it's time to make that delicious, delicious
mac and cheese sauce. To do that, we're gonna have three cups of whole milk into a pot. This is gonna go over a medium heat and you're gonna scald
the milk almost to a boil because when you use cold milk, that does not make the best sauce. Grab a really big pan or even a pot. This is where the magic happens. On you go. Time to melt one half
of a cup or 113 grams of butter in a big pan. Let's get this nice and melty. If you want to be a little adventurous, you could totally brown
the butter in the pan. That'll add a little bit
more depth of flavor, but it's totally up to you. If you ever see this, you
know it's the beginning of an amazing recipe. This recipe is gonna come
together really quickly, so you might as well set that oven to 375 because it'll be baking
before you know it. Okay, butter's melted. Let's add in a third of a cup of all-purpose flour, just sprinkle it in. You can reduce the heat to medium low. And we're gonna cook the flour
for two to three minutes. This isn't the roux or the
base of our white sauce that we're gonna make
and fill with cheese. Just like you have a choice of making the butter into brown
butter by cooking it down, you could take this white
sauce and keep cooking it. So, cook the roux down
until it's a golden color. And that'll also toast the
flour, cook the butter, and give you more depth of flavor. Once again, it's up to you. though. Okay, this is a gorgeous, golden color. It has a wonderful nutty flavor. It's time to add in the milk. So, drizzle it in slowly while you whisk. And blow away that steam, it's really hot. Blow it away. Alrighty, gently whisk this
so you don't make a mess and we're gonna cook it
for two to three minutes until the sauce starts thickening up. My white sauce has thickened up. It'll continue to thicken up a little bit, so don't go crazy. Let's take it off heat now. It's time to add a bunch
of delicious things to it. Let's add three quarters of a teaspoon of freshly ground pepper. Three quarters of a teaspoon of salt. There you go. About a quarter of a teaspoon of paprika. I'm using regular paprika today, but you could definitely
use smoked paprika if you want that smokier flavor. All right, last bit is gonna be about half a teaspoon of
freshly-grated nutmeg. Nutmeg pairs really well
with any white sauce. And it's a classic in mac and cheese. Even if you didn't know it was there. Whoa, not the whole nut. I've totally dropped nutmeg
nuts into so many things. You can just rinse them
off, it'll be fine. And now it's time for our
cheese, glorious cheese. Add them in any order you want. Don't spill any on the floor. All that Gruyere too. Okay, keep stirring that
in and last but not least, we're adding in one cup of heavy cream. Mix that in there, there you go. We cooked our pasta until it was al dente and had a little bit of
toothless left in it. You don't want to fully
cook it so it's super soft. One, because you're gonna bake it. And two, because it needs
to continue absorbing those delicious juices from the sauce. Gently toss that pasta in
your ooey, gooey cheesy sauce. Did I mention this is the
ultimate comfort food? This is now ready to pop
into our baking dish. All that pasta in there. Smooth it out. Mm, ASMR. I have half a cup of panko bread crumbs, and if you're in a hurry, you
can just sprinkle them on top. But have you ever had fried breadcrumbs? They are amazing. Melt a little bit of
butter, about a tablespoon. Once your butter's melted,
add in those panko crumbs. And we're just gonna fry
them up in the butter until they get a little
bit of a golden color. It happens really quickly,
so don't walk away from them. All right, look at those
golden, fried bread crumbs. It's an extra step that's
definitely worth it. To finish this off, let's
sprinkle about another half cup or full cup, depending on how you feel. Of shredded cheese. A little bit of Parmesan too. And into the bread crumbs
I'm adding maybe like a quarter cup of shredded Parmesan cheese. There you go. And now we're gonna top it all. Just like that. Don't let any of these
breadcrumbs go to waste. If they're sticking at the bottom, it's because of the butter. Look at that, golden and
ready to go into the oven. Okay, so I can't lie to you. I totally just doubled the recipe because I was like, wait,
I want more breadcrumbs. You can always do a
full cup of breadcrumbs with two or three tablespoons of butter. Look at this, okay, that's the business. Our amazing baked mac and cheese is ready to go into the oven. 375, about 35 minutes. It'll be golden, bubbling,
and just plain delicious. Fresh out of the oven, my mac and cheese was sizzling up a storm. It sounded like a symphony of delight, but it's cool enough to eat, so we're gonna take a bite. Before I do, if you like this recipe, check out my cheesy playlist. All of my favorite cheesy
recipes in one playlist for you, but now it's time for a bite. (humming) Hi friend, I missed you. So good! The fried bread crumbs are everything. With the creaminess, it's like, ah. It's just perfect. I hope you get a chance
to make this recipe. And, if you like my videos, hit that like button, subscribe,
hit the notification bell and I'll see you in the next cheesy video.
