Beginner's guide to STOVETOP MAC AND CHEESE

everybody loves perfectly creamy macaroni and cheese but even in quarantine you don't have to rely on the blue box if you want some of this childhood classic there's four things we need to cover in this video for your stovetop mac and cheese success number one the method with evaporated milk number two held the method changes if you want to use regular milk number three how to add meats and vegetables to make new mac and cheese creations and number four which is probably the most important what is the best method for reheating leftover mac and cheese - turn it up from dried up to creamy goodness again first up is the three ingredient evaporated milk method which is renowned among fans of the Food Lab and serious eats if you are wondering what the hell this canned milk is Wikipedia tells me that evaporated milk is a shelf-stable canned cow's milk product where about 60% of the water has been removed from fresh milk basically the taste is a very milk forward milk would not recommend drinking it by the glass it's also important to point out that this is very different from condensed milk which is sweetened with added sugar so make sure you pick up the right can of canned milk or else you may end up with some weird dessert mac and cheese abomination for your macaroni choice any brand will do but I'm going to shout out raus homemade it is by far the best macaroni I've used he's slowly extruded macaroni has a rough texture compared to cheaper and faster produce macaroni leading to a better sticking sauce the texture itself has bite but it's still kind of chewy and I don't really know how to explain to be honest if you know you know lastly is our cheese feel free to use any cheese's you may have but make sure primarily it's a good melting cheese varieties could include American young cheddar Gouda Guerrier mozzarella Oaxaca young Swift young provolone or the list goes on and on also I'm not being ageist against aged cheese's they have less moisture so the fat and water break down easier which is going to give us a greasy sauce it's set up a smooth one if you want to use aged cheese's add them in small quantities right at the end before serving with the bulk majority of a good melting cheese for my purposes I like using equal parts of a smoked Gruyere and a mild cheddar let's make some mac at the stove add 8 ounces of macaroni to a medium frying pan or saucepan I actually prefer a shallow and wide pan because the water boils a little bit faster due to more surface area to the cast-iron add water to just barely cover the macaroni this is important because we are going to create a high starts concentration for our sauce also add about 5 grams or a teaspoon of salt we don't want much because we aren't draining the pasta water and all the salt will be absorbed bring the pasta to a boil while stirring constantly the sturdiness key since we don't have much water the pasta will stick if it's not stirred so don't walk away from more than a minute or so after around 7 minutes when the pasta has absorbed almost all the water and is about al dente turn the heat to low you're gonna pour in 6 ounces of the evaporated milk add in 8 ounces of cheese I use four ounces of cheddar and four ounces of smoked Gruyere stir the macaroni for about 1 to 2 minutes until the cheese melts and this sauce has formed feel free to add more cheese or thin out with a little bit milk for your desired mac and cheese consistency now it's time to taste and add salt it probably doesn't need much if any also how many spoonfuls does tasting your food just become eating your food because I think 5 is a couple too many serve it in a bowl and enjoy the fruits of your labor about 15 minutes of work one pot and lots of cheese ok so now that the secrets out on evaporated milk and there's been a grocery run on it can you do this stovetop method with regular milk you can but the method is going to change as we cook the pasta right in the milk instead of water basically we need to evaporate our own milk let me show you how just like before add 8 ounces of macaroni to a medium frying pan or saucepan instead of water though add 20 ounces of milk right to the pan turn on the heat and start stirring with this method you have to be diligent with stirring to avoid scorching the milk and having the pasta stick after about 15 minutes though the milk will absorbed and the pasta should be al dente once it kind of looks like this go ahead and add in the cheese for this one I did 4 ounces of cheddar and 2 ounces of rare and also 2 ounce of an aged beamster stir the macaroni for about 1 to 2 minutes until the cheese melts and the sauce has formed feel free to add a more cheese or thin out with more milk for your desired mac she's consistency as always taste test and add salt as needed now my test between the two I slightly prefer the evaporated milk method number one because the cheese sauce texture is a little bit smoother and number two the pasta cooks faster at a higher heat because you don't have to worry about scorching the milk but whichever method you choose grate mac and cheese is not far away okay okay you may be saying you can make with evaporated milk in regular milk but Ethan I just can't eat plain mac and cheese as a meal I would say you're wrong but I'll provide you with a solution because you have just unlocked the blueprint for turning any mac and cheese into a full-blown meal with whatever your heart desires how about we spice things up with the roasted poblano and chicken mac and cheese here are the ingredients I picked up for our spicy Mac first up i roasted a poblano and a habanero in the oven and remove the outer skin you can skip the habanero if you want less heat next I have a bag of shredded Mexican cheese now pre-shredded cheese is not optimal for the sauce as it normally contains anti-caking agents but it still turns out great so don't be afraid to use shredded cheese if it's all you have in the fridge for the meat I have some sliced up chicken thighs that were cooked in salt and pepper and then for our spices I have cumin chili powder and smoked paprika at the sope it's business as usual at eight ounces of macaroni to a saucepan and add water to just barely cover it with five grams or about a teaspoon of salt that's going to give us that high starch concentration bring the pasta to a boil while stirring constantly after about seven minutes when the pasta has absorbed most all the water and is about al dente turn the heat to low pour in 6 ounces of evaporated milk add the bag of Mexican cheese the cooked chicken the habanero and the poblano you're gonna add in 2 grams of smoked paprika 2 grams of chili powder and 2 grams of cumin stir the macaroni for about 1 to 2 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sauce has formed again feel free to add more cheese or thin I was more milk for your desired mac and cheese consistency this one I probably would have liked to have a little bit more cheese in it but after 3 batches of macked I'm all tapped out serve it up and there you have a complete bowl of proteins fats and carbs with this method you can literally throw any leftover anything so if you all make some mac and cheese creations send them to me on instagram because i would love to see [Music] now we move to our last topic of the day which is what is the best way to reheat leftover mac and cheese maybe you've gone crazy in your kitchen and you just barely made too much mac and cheese to eat in a single day key word being barely as mac and cheese cools in the fridge it soaks up all the sauce so when you go to open your leftover container it's no longer creamy but instead of just popping it in the microwave and dealing with non creamy mac and cheese let's get that creaminess back what I like to do is add a tablespoon of milk per cup of leftover mac and cheese once out of the microwave just keep stirring this up until that creaminess is perfectly like it was yesterday the macaroni noodle itself would be a little bit overcooked compared to yesterday but that's not necessarily a bad thing in summary there are a ton of different ways to make mac and cheese you can make it with a word that turns into a mornay you can do the whole like egg and milk sauce thing or you can make it right out of the box if you want to but the fastest method and I think one of the best is the three ingredient stovetop mac and cheese you can grab your pantry ingredients the evaporated milk in the macaroni and get a nice block of cheddar cheese which still face tea the ultimate shelf life guide tells me we'll last six months in the fridge if it's unopened with all those components you can make mac and cheese at a moment's notice so with all that being said hopefully you guys enjoy the video and found it valuable if you did definitely drop me a like and subscribe and I will catch you all in the next video peace [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 288,639

Keywords: Cook with E, stovetop mac and cheese, better than blue box, blue box mac and cheese, mac and cheese evaporated milk, serious eats mac and cheese, 3 ingredient mac and cheese, mac & cheese, macaroni & cheese, easy mac and cheese recipe, macaroni and cheese, 15 minute mac and cheese, cheese, evaporated milk, macaroni, cheese sauce macaroni, macaroni and cheese no bake, mac and cheese no flour, stovetop macaroni, stovetop macaroni and cheese, recipe for stovetop mac and cheese

Id: GGsf51oW7V8

Length: 8min 19sec (499 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 27 2020