Mac and Cheese

This is not some grand invention of mine or some closely guarded family secret. Unsurprisingly, French chefs figured this one out a long time ago, specifically the Parisian restaurant Le Grand Véfour, where “Sauce Mornay” was introduced to the public in its current form. Mornay is a béchamel sauce with grated cheese added and it’s exactly what you’re looking for to create an amazing cheese sauce for your pasta.

Cheese Sauce

• 8 ounces (227 grams) extra sharp white cheddar (buy a brick of cheddar and shred it yourself, trust me on this one)
• 1/2 stick (57 grams) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup (32 grams) All-Purpose flour
• 2 cups (475 ml) milk (I use low-fat milk but anything other than skim is fine)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Start your pasta of choice cooking while you work on the sauce, or if you’re not a speedy cook you’ll want to get the sauce prepped first so you can get the freshly cooked pasta into the sauce as soon as it’s ready. I like the classics so I generally use good quality elbow macaroni, but really anything that holds the sauce well will do nicely. If you’re looking for suggestions - shells, penne, and rigatoni are all excellent options. You’ll need a pound (453 grams) of pasta for this recipe.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat, don’t allow it to brown
3. As soon as the butter is melted, add the flour while whisking to avoid making lumps. You’re looking for a smooth, pale roux.
4. Let the roux cook for 2-3 minutes, you’re not looking for any color, you’re just looking to not have raw flour in your sauce.
5. Pour the milk in all at once while whisking vigorously. I know, a lot of folks will have you warm it first, drizzle it, etc. It’s not needed, I promise, just whisk it while you pour and you’re good to go.
6. Let this cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat until it starts to bubble and thicken, whisking it frequently.
7. Once it is thickened slightly, add all of the shredded cheese and once and cook the sauce until the cheese is fully melted and incorporated
8. If you have enough room in your saucepan, add the pasta to the pan with your cheese sauce and stir just until everything is well coated. If not, add the pasta to a large bowl and pour the sauce over it and do your stirring there.
9. Enjoy! Let me know what you think or what spices/cheeses/flavors you add to yours to make it your perfect mac and cheese.

Notes

1. If you end up with lumps in either the béchamel or the mornay, don’t panic. You can generally fix this by using an immersion blender. If you don’t have one, a regular blender will work just fine, just work in batches since the liquid will be hot.
2. Other cheese work great here, especially parmesan and gruyere. You can also combine multiple types of cheeses for your own flavor profile.
3. This will make a fairly thick cheese sauce which not everyone likes, so you’ll want to add more or less milk to the cheese sauce to get it to the consistency you like. Just don’t make it too thin or it won’t really adhere to your pasta.
4. Too much fat and too little fat from your dairy are going to lead to not great results. You can definitely do this with whole milk or evaporated milk if you want a very rich sauce. Skim milk tends to make the sauce watery and the mouth feel is off. Conversely, half and half or heavy cream would give you an unholy marriage of a pudding and a cheese sauce that will be way too fatty for anyone to really enjoy. Low-fat milk is my family’s preference but you do you my friend, it’s your sauce now.
5. You can make this vegan and it’s pretty fantastic. I recommend using rice milk for the béchamel, along with vegan margarine. If you go this route, you’ll want to increase the margarine and flour to around 6 tablespoons of each as rice milk has very little, if any, fat content. Other milks can work but their flavors might take over and rice milk is neutral which is why I use it. For the cheese substitute, you’ll want to use something that melts like Daiya shreds. Just bear in mind that this sauce is much more likely to break on you and frequently requires a blender to make it smooth so I’d recommend having one on hand if you’re going the vegan route.
6. For storing the leftovers (if there are any) I’d recommend thinning the sauce slightly with a bit of milk before putting it away. It just makes separating it later a lot easier. To reheat it, put a little milk in a sauce pan along with the leftover noodles and gently swirl it around in the milk over medium heat. It’ll start to break apart your brick of noodles and melt back into a sauce. Because you’re diluting it with milk you might need to add a little more cheese and a little more salt to get it back to the same flavor profile again but the consistency is almost perfect. Microwaves and dairy tend to not mix well unless you’re super careful so I tend to do this on the stove but again, you do you.