This One Trick Forever Changed The Way I Make Mac And Cheese

what's up dude today I'm going to show you how to take a simple box of Kraft macaroni and cheese and turn it into a gourmet product that is literally 10 times better I'm also going to teach you the one trick I learned about macaroni and cheese sauce that changed the way I do it forever and as always there is no time to waste now let's go [Music] much like any good mac and cheese recipe this one is going to start with a roux which will then turn into a bechamel which will then turn into a Mornay now if you're new to cooking this may sound complicated to you but trust me it is extremely simple here's how you start start by melting seven tablespoons of unsalted butter in a large pot set over medium heat once the butter is completely melted add seven tablespoons of all-purpose flour and what we've just made is the first step of this recipe which is called a roux which is French and essentially is just a thickener you can use this to thicken soup sauces braised meats or in this case the base for the bechamel sauce and one big mistake I personally see people make when they make a roux is that they'll melt the butter in the flour and then add the milk straight away which is going to give you an end product that has a raw flowery taste you need to cook out a roux meaning leave it over the heat for about 10 minutes and stir it frequently to cook out that raw flour taste and you will smell the difference in the air it'll smell almost like baked cookies when the time has elapsed at this point you can get rid of your spatula and switch to a whisk keep the heat around medium you can even turn it up a little bit at this point and little by little we're going to add this whole milk you only want to add about a half cup at a time or so and when it warms back up it'll seize up on you and stiffen up like this add some more milk and this milk is just sitting at room temperature they say you can only add a cold liquid to a hot Roux or a hot liquid to a cold Roux although I've tried it both ways and it always seems to work out the trick to this is to really work it if your arm doesn't hurt by the end of this process you haven't done it right add more milk and work it in my cameraman Marcus has told me he doesn't own a whisk Marcus come here come stand right here for a second come right here shame on you buy a whisk it's like oh yeah I know I wanna I have a car I just don't I don't have a steering wheel yet you know it's like oh yeah no I have shoes but only the left foot I'm just continuing to add my milk little by little and now it's time for me to reveal that one trick I was talking about in the beginning of this video which is to make this sauce watery on purpose I see people making a lot of mac and cheese and they start with a really thick sauce before they add the pasta and they're overlooking the fact that that pasta is super starchy and it's going to thicken up the sauce even more so that by the time you bake it and it comes out of the oven it is so so thick and so gross and so hard to eat it will make you like take a nap or pass out immediately but if you start with a thin sauce when you add the pasta it's going to thicken it up you don't need a thick sauce right away I mean to each their own but trust me if you try this it does go down so much easier and I did learn that from a chef who had a competition winning mac and cheese so take that for what it's worth by the way it's still going to be good but I stand by this method all five and a half cups of whole milk has now been worked into the bechamel sauce and as you can see it is pretty watery right now this is where we want it because now it's time to talk about the cheese which is also going to thicken this sauce to the right there is a list of different melting cheeses you can use for this recipe depending on your taste and preference for this recipe I'm choosing a trio of gruyere parmesan and cheddar which trust me when I say is absolutely a delicious combination however if you want to choose different cheeses go for it it will still be delicious starting with the gruyere and what I'm going for is seven ounces oh my god 7.15 let's go some standard medium cheddar you want to use a different cheddar milder sharper that's up to you almost eight ounces on that one and of course the king of cheese in my eyes when you buy this just make sure the Rind is stamped and that it's from Italy there's only one parmesan cheese personally I buy it at Costco where it's a lot cheaper and with this one I'm only doing five ounces using the largest section of a box grater I'm going to shred up all my cheese and of course I took the Rind off of this cheese before grating this is the gruyere here's the parmesan and finally the medium cheddar cheese and then just give your cheese a really good mix I love cheese I think cheese is the first drug humans ever experienced before continuing take roughly a third of your cheese which we will save for later in the recipe next with your Bechamel on low heat we're gonna add our cheese little by little just a little handful at a time work that in and after about 30 seconds it should be all melted add some more and when cheese enters the Bechamel it becomes a Mornay sauce which is essentially just a cheese sauce that's it just keep adding your cheese little by little in small additions until it's all worked in and obviously this wouldn't be a Kraft mac and cheese recipe without using some of the packet if we don't use this we've essentially just made mac and cheese so this needs to go in but we're not going to use all of it taters are going to say I just made Regular mac and cheese but if this video gets only one person who's eating processed food and fast food every day and that's it to make homemade mac and cheese for the first time in my eyes that is a huge win I'm going to start by adding one packet of this orange powder look at that stuff isn't that fun personally I like what it's doing color wise I'm going to start by adding another half packet for one and a half packets total I think that should be the right amount and that Italian parmesan is definitely offended when this American craft powder just entered but hey this is looking absolutely delicious another ingredient I'm going to be adding is some of my homemade Rosemary salt this is a famous seasoning I make on this channel it's been recreated more than any of my other recipes and I will post that video and recipe in the description under this video one and a half teaspoons and last but not least my good old friend Sergeant Gilbert's black pepper my friends and personally I like quite a lot of black pepper in my Mac and Cheese like a little of the spice on the tongue but if you don't like it don't put it and here we go one final mix look at that sauce not too thick not too thin just perfect and absolutely ready now for the noodles looks like Kraft doesn't tell people to season their pasta water this is pasta right or is it noodles or what's the difference I don't know but always season your water if you're cooking noodles about a tablespoon and I'm throwing in three boxes of Kraft mac and cheese which is about a pound and a half make sure you give it a stir right away so it doesn't stick on the box it says to cook this for seven to eight minutes but because this is getting baked after I would highly recommend you undercook it a little bit because it will finish cooking in the oven in the sauce so after just six minutes I'm gonna go ahead and strain this pasta out no rinsing of the pasta here we don't rinse it stop rinsing it straight in give it a stir oh oh my God it's so cheesy and as I said as this bakes it is going to thicken up into the perfect texture okay this is what you want set a baking tray over a sheet pan and go ahead and pour in your Mac and Cheese wow and straight into a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven after 15 minutes I'm going to remove from the oven and top with the cheese that we saved because a golden brown bubbly cheesy crispy crust can only make things better if you want to do breadcrumbs or whatever else on top go for it there are a lot of different things you can do but for me just cheese is a must and now we're going to put it back under a high heat Broiler for around four minutes or until it's golden brown and bubbly and delicious after four minutes mine is looking pretty good but I'm actually going to take my sous vide gun here love this thing Link in description if you want a discount on it to finish Browning it up we started with a loose sauce but as you can see now it is perfectly thick not too thick not too thin right in the middle Goldilocks Perfection this is what's up I wouldn't need it any thicker than this please no it's already gonna put you down don't let it kill you [Music] oh the seasoning is spot on it's not too thick and gross in my mouth it's honestly just a super solid mac and cheese recipe on its own craft packets are not I think we need to bring in a mac and cheese connoisseur Marcus that's you right I don't have a mac and cheese kind of or you know dinosaur but I am a giant eight-year-old I think we should all be giant egg rolls the world would be a better place oh yeah oh yeah what do you think oh yeah it gets a triple oh yeah if you have suggestions for box food you want to see me fancify go ahead and leave those in the comments the recipe for this mac and cheese is linked down in the description as well as some of my favorite products I use on the show and merch if you want to help support the channel and until next time you know I love you when I'm out [Music] foreign

Channel: ThatDudeCanCook

Views: 435,297

Keywords: mac and cheese, macaroni and cheese, mac n cheese, kraft mac and cheese, kraft mac and cheese dinner ideas, macaroni and cheese baked, cheese, mac and cheese recipe soul food, mac and cheese recipe, macaroni and cheese recipe baked, macaroni and cheese recipe easy, eat, food, recipe, bake, thatdudecancook

Id: A54QWGvz0dA

Length: 8min 23sec (503 seconds)

Published: Wed May 10 2023