I love when you do that! Again, again, again! You want me to do it again? Again, again, again! Wow! Welcome to "Mythical Kitchen," where dreams become food for thought. And here's a thought, why'd we stop making all the delicious dishes
we ate when we were a kid? Yeah, I want to go back to the time when I used to eat macaroni and cheese with hotdogs and ketchup and
not know what a Roth IRA was. Nicole, life is unfair,
but to counterbalance that, we're gonna take hotdog mac and cheese. We're gonna make our
updated adult version of it, then we're gonna have
a kid taste test that next to the OG dish to
see if ours holds up. We've broken down the recipe into three easy to follow steps. You can snag the time codes right there and there is a written recipe
in the description below. Let's get cooking. Let's do it. Let us cook. Nicole, grab a big old bite of
some hot dog mac and cheese. This is like the dankness. It's a lot of hot dog. It's okay, I know, I know. Yeah, Josh specifically
knows that Hebrew National was my hotdog of choice. Universal to the Jewish
American experience, Hebrew Nationals, I would
come home from school and my grandma would go "Josh,
do you want some sausages?" And I'd be like "yeah, I
want some sausages, Granny." And then she'd microwave
me some Hebrew Natties. That's delicious. It is, it's perfect. But it tastes like child food. It does. Which isn't a bad thing,
but Kraft mac and cheese, it's a child food.
Yeah. So we're getting a little
fancier on this, right? We got Monterey Jack, We got some Gruyere, and
we got some sharp cheddar, but that's why we have a real child. That's why we have a kid, he's 12. He's like a budding young man. We have a child? We're very proud of him. Not, she and I don't
have a child together. There's a child coming in to tell us. Yeah, he's awesome. We gotta start making the sauce. Nicole, you wanna make a roux for me? This is how I like to do mac and cheese. I like to do a kind of like hybrid creamy stove top with the baked. I want to get the best
of both worlds in here. What we're gonna try and
do is get the creaminess of stove top mac and cheese in this to try and like appeal to
like the child lizard brains. Also I have this problem where I can't estimate a child's age. You know, if they're between
like eight and like 13, it's all just like the same to me. Josh, you know what we should do? We should probably talk about our mac and cheese
preferences on our podcast. Oh, we have a podcast called
"A Hot Dog is a Sandwich." We do. Which is ironic that
we're putting hot dogs in mac and cheese, find us on a podcast. Like Apple. That is one.
Spotify. All right, we've got the roux going, so we're gonna start adding
our milk in gradually. I'm gonna add in like about a cup. We got four cups of whole milk going in. You want to crank up that pan to high. Sure do. And then just whisk that together. So I'm trying to like
gradually build this roux. I like adding it a little
bit gradually, you know, don't like shock the system too much. Yeah, it makes total sense. Yeah, we're gonna add our spices here. It's pretty simple, we've just got nutmeg, a little bit of mustard powder,
black pepper, some salt. We got Monterey Jack. I'm using that for the meltiness, and then we got sharp
cheddar and we got Gruyere. I'm using that for the flavoriness. Beautiful. So I'm gonna start adding some
cheese to get that melted. Then we're gonna add more milk. I'm gonna reserve half this cheese to get like a bit of a crust on this Mac. That makes so much sense. Then we just got 12 ounces
of cooked macaroni noodles. Right here is 12 ounces when
it's dried, then that's cooked. Do you think this kid's gonna like us? You know, I was asking
myself the same question, but like why wouldn't the kid like us? I mean, we're super
likable, adults like us. Okay, so I'm gonna add half of our Gruyere right here. Nice, nice. Kind of gradually build up this sauce. My first thought, when I
was trying to, you know, think of this of updated adult kid dish was to put a bunch of
Elmer's glue into something. Keep whisking through it and then we're gonna add
the rest of our milk. Then we're actually gonna
kind of simmer the macaroni and they were trying to
draw some of that starch out before we layer it in the pan. Oops. Yeah, there you go. We
don't have aprons on. We just started cooking without aprons. That's weird. How long have we worked
together? Don't touch me. That was too long. Yeah, no, I say that to you. It's weirder if you say "don't touch me." Yeah, the roles have been reversed. It's very different. It doesn't feel nice, does it Josh? Oh my god, no, it feels accusatory. Yeah, it makes you feel like crap. Now we're gonna add the
rest of this milk in here. All right, and now we're gonna add all of our macaroni in there. What? Stop. Nicole, be a pro. I'm sorry, I'm trying, I'm trying. We're cooking for Henry.
This is for Henry. Henry, I'm doing this for you. So now you see this cheese
sauce looks super loose. I want to keep it loose because we're gonna layer more
cheese in there and on top, but we're gonna let this
simmer for like 10 minutes, just so it tightens up. And then Nicole, we got to start
making our form of ketchup. Oh wow, a form of ketchup? A form of ketchup. We're gonna do fancy ketchup? We're making adult ketchup. Nicole, ketchup's not fancy. Why are we still not wearing aprons? I don't know. We're both rocking our looks right now. I got the jorts going. I look like I am a fifth grade teacher and we're at a parent teacher conference. So what are we doing here? We're making roasted tomato jam. Very nice. A fancy version of ketchup, right? That is very fancy. And we're gonna put
some of the same spices that you get in ketchup, along some sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, all that to try and like
really marry the worlds here. Nice. Bridging the gaps between generations, because we're all gonna be
working for Henry one day. Yeah, I am. All right, so we're gonna
do is we're gonna take these flesh side down and
we're just gonna sear them. We're gonna sear them in this
roasting hot pan right now. We'll let these tomatoes sear
off for like five minutes. We're trying to get some char on them, trying to get some flavor
coaxed out of them. What we can do is just sort of
smash the juice out of them. Whoa.
That's not good. So a child is doing this? Yeah, this isn't any normal kid. This is America's test
kitchen kids recipe tester. It is tested like real red,
like America's test kitchen, I mean like I grew up
making those recipes. I mean, he's a pretty big deal. How old is he, 12? He's 12 years old. And he has that kind of title? Yeah. Do you know how hard I
had to work to get here? Yeah, when I was 12, I was doing-- Diddly squat. What, like Pokemon? Was
that a thing when I was 12? Oh yeah, Pogs, Pogs. What age do kids start
driving, like nine, 10? 16. 16? No way. They can join the military at 12, but they can't operate
a car until they're 16. I have some red onion here. We're gonna get the red onion working in with the tomato juice. Start adding spices in here. Why not? Okay.
Why not? Yeah. Oh, gosh. Oh gosh. So we add some sugar into there. That's gonna be like the jam portion of this roasted tomato jam. And then we're getting some red wine vin and a little bit of
Worcestershire as well. Was there supposed to be water somewhere? What's that? No way, dude. Oh God, this happens all the time where I'm like, "where's the tongs?" I see all these, I don't see tongs. Josh. I see two weird forks, I don't see tongs. I don't know what happens. She's mashing that up. Okay, fun fact. I'm gonna add some water to this. Just so we can kind of
like turn this to high and let that really cook down. All the water is gonna
cook the onions down. That's gonna help the
tomatoes break down even more. And then as this fully, fully reduces, it's just gonna be a beautiful tomato jam that goes in our thing that we're making, and that we're putting it in
the hotdog mac and cheese. We're making food, you've seen the show. Nicole, we did it. What do we do? We made the thing. We made the roasted tomato jam. Oh yeah, we sure did. It looks incredible, it's tightened up. Give it a taste, give it a taste. Give it a smell, give a smell. Get your whole face in there. Tell me if it tastes like ketchup to you. Kinda.
Is it hot? Yeah, it was really hot and
it hit the corner of my mouth, but it's really delicious. Wow, what a beautiful balance of flavors. Kind of ketchup is like
exactly what we're going for with it, because it's
gotta be adult ketchup. It's really good. Speaking of adult, we got adult hotdogs. Oh my gosh. What is in that? Let's eat some hotdogs. It's andouille sausage, it's
got more spice than a hot dog, it's got more texture, it's gonna bring a lot more flavor to the dish, it's gonna counter the
sweetness of the ketchup. We got this mac, it's set up a little bit. It's still super, super creamy. We're gonna take half of it. Take like dollops of that and then just like kind of put them down. You ever see like Detroit
style pizza being made? Yeah, go faster, go faster. I'm gonna take sausage, but be deliberate. You do that, I'm gonna follow the cheese. So we left half our cheese. We want some of it for the top, but we also want some to just
sprinkle in between here, because we left a nice creamy
mac and cheese base in there, but we also want to get some of that just straight cheese flavor on there. Panicking. Don't panic, why would you
be panicking? I'm calm. I'm gonna take the rest
of the mac and cheese. We're gonna pour that on top. Nicole, you want to take a spatula and kind of spread that around? Sure, is it okay if I take a spoon? Oh, we have a spatula right there. Don't touch. I wasn't going to. All right, so we're gonna
take the rest of this cheese, gonna sprinkle it on top. I want to get some around the edges. Feel it, that's supple. Yeah, felt like a memory foam mattress. So we're taking some Parmesan, we're adding it to panko. I love when you do that. Again, again, again! You want me to do it again? Again, again, again, wow! All right, so we got some dried basil. We got some panko, we
got some Parmesan cheese. Nicole, you wanna mix that up
and just spread that on top. Absolutely. Kids love smoked paprika. Do you know when I was a kid that my brother challenged me to
eat a whole Pizza Hut pizza with mushrooms on it and I ate it all but then I threw it up into a fountain? And that's why I thought I
didn't like mushrooms as a kid. So we're gonna take this
and we're just gonna pop it in the oven, 375
for about 45 minutes so it gets all nice and brown and crunchy. No olive oil? Oh yeah, and then you're right. We gotta drizzle of olive oil over it, so we're just gonna kinda do this. Oh that's nice, what a great. Kids love playing, this is actually working really well. That is such a great way
to drizzle olive oil, wow. This is working. It's like you're in Italia or something. What is it, nonna? Oh my nonna, she make this
sauce, oh it's beautiful. This is how they do it in
Sicily, drops with the fingers. Okay Nicole, I'm a disgusting man. No you're not, you're marginally okay. Thank you.
You're welcome. All right, mac and cheese is done. Let's grab it out of the oven. Look at that cheese, gorgeous. It looks so good. It's making me giggly already. It's making me hot and bothered. So uh, no this is a children's episode. I mean, it looks really great though. The panko, the cheese
has like released oil and it's actually browned
the panko on there. That little bit of parm. I mean, I'm gonna dig,
do you want to dig in? You should do the honors. Okay, wow. That came out so clean. Oh my God, that's so clean. Can I just spin it? Maggie, I know we don't have
one of those rotating things but look how good I'm doing. It's like seamless. Do you see that? But I mean, look at the back side of that, you get the caramelized
cream and cheese on there. It really is like, what, you keep, I thought you were just gonna stop there. You're doing a full 360, huh? Where's the, where's the bowl of macaroni? Oh I have it, it's right down here. Here. Oh, you put the macaroni
in a drawer, stupid me. Yeah, we have to try
them and see ourselves. Yeah, let's try it. Okay, let's revisit the child's macaroni. It is what it is. It is what it is, and it's
comforting and nostalgic. I think we're gonna get a little bit more complex flavor profile in here. I mean, you see, oh, you smell, you smell the tomato jam in there. I think we got a good texture
of that like creaminess plus all the baked-ness. Uh-huh. Oh that's hot. Never give a child mac
and cheese that's too hot. Nicole, help me. Okay Nicole, this looks incredible. This is really good, but
our opinion, our opinions, our opinions don't matter, we're old. We're old, our palates are washed out. I'm an old woman. I am an old shriveled raisin of a man. That said, we do have a kid. We have an America's test
kitchen kids' recipe tester, Henry, he is joining us. Henry, thank you so much for joining us. Hello. All right, Henry, so
you're 12 years old, right? Yes, I am 12 years old,
but I'm about to turn 13. About to turn 13, so you're what, like a senior in college,
you're about to graduate? Yeah, basically. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. How much money you think
you're getting back on your tax return this year? Uh. You don't have to answer that. All right Henry, so you have
made our updated version of hotdogs with mac
and cheese and ketchup. Do you eat hot dogs with
mac and cheese and ketchup? No, but I have hot dogs with
mac and cheese and peas. Mac and cheese and peas.
Nice. All right, Henry, so you got the original boxed mac and cheese with
the hotdog and ketchup on it. Go ahead and give that a try first. Get everything in here. I like watching people eat. Me too. It's fun. I get why people watch our show. Tell me what you're tasting. Do you like it? Do you love it? Hot dogs were, tastes like
hot dogs, which is good. And the mac and cheese is
classic box mac and cheese. I love it. All right Henry, so now you're gonna
try the updated version of mac and cheese with hotdogs and ketchup that Nicole and I have created. Wow, look at that, that looks awesome. Let us know what
differences you're tasting. Does it still have that
nostalgic taste for you? I guess he wouldn't taste nostalgia. He's tasting the current moment. Yeah, maybe it's more
like tasting in context with what he just ate. That is a really, really good. I like it better. Yeah, it has a little bit of heat in it. I like the sausage much
better than the hot dogs, and I love all the cheeses
in the mac and cheese. There's a little more
complexity to this, right? You're getting some more
flavor from that cheeses. You're getting all that
heat from the baked. Do you think that this has like a market in the childhood arena? 'Cause that's what we're
trying to find here. We're trying to bridge
this generational gap between us, Henry. One thing I am going to say though, is if you're gonna do it, make it boxed, because this took me four hours to make. So you're saying that
like the extra effort, that's a little tough sell. So maybe you can marry it, put
some nice sausage in boxed. I would say it's definitely worth it. But I don't think a kid has
four hours to make lunch. We forget that we get
paid to do this all day. You have school, you have
other responsibilities. And in 20 years, we decided that you're probably gonna
be both of our bosses. I'm looking forward to it. No, don't let her suck up to you now so she can get a bonus.
Stop it, stop it! You gotta withhold her bonus. All right Henry, it was
awesome meeting you, man. Thanks Henry, see you soon. See you soon, bye. He liked it. Oh my God, he liked it. The kids like us, we
worked, the kids love us. All right, visit ATKkids.com/youtube and subscribe to America's
test kitchen kids' new YouTube channel for weekly videos, and visit ATKkids.com for
kid-tested, kid approved recipes, activities and experiments from
America's test kitchen kids. And thank you so much for
stopping by the Mythical Kitchen. We have new episodes for you every week. We have new episodes of
our podcast every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and hit us up on
Instagram @MythicalKitchen with pictures of your mythical dishes, under #DreamsBecomeFood. See you all next time. What are we gonna make next time? I don't know. PB&J, PB and frickin' J. Okay, look, I'm down. Fancy.
I'm down. We're gonna put liquor in it for the kids. No, I don't want to do that. Why? We can get arrested. The Mythical trucker hat is literally the only hat I wear and
I am not just saying that because this is an ad, so get
yours now at Mythical.com.
Lol Nicole is in the thumbnail now 😬