This mac and cheese is so good it will outshine your lovingly prepared mains. It’s a star attraction. I know. I’ve done it to myself. More than once.
This is one of those recipes that you have to be careful with. It’s good. Very good. Crazy good.
But it can be a secret weapon as well. Imagine you are going to a pot luck and you want to be the one that blows everyone away.
This is a dish that can do it. The ultimate sleeper side. Killer mac and cheese. Absolutely killer.
One mac and cheese to rule them all
I know this sounds like a pretty tall claim. It’s mac and cheese after all.
You’re thinking – “Mine is pretty damn good. Why would I bother? Everyone loves mine”.
Maybe that’s true but has anyone ever begged you to serve leftovers for breakfast? I have.
“Forget bacon and eggs. Not interested in lox and cream cheese. We want the mac and cheese”.
Gruyere and cheddar make it special
It’s about more. More cheese. Creamy béchamel. There’s no real secret here.
Just clobber you over the head more. More flavour. Better texture. Crazy rich.
It’s somewhere between a regular mac and cheese and lasagna.
There’s no bread crumbs. There’s no tomato. And there’s no pinch of this and touch of that. It’s about cheese and pasta.
The complexity comes from the gruyere and cheddar. And there’s cheese melted on top. Just because that’s better.
If you want to go absolutely crazy add pulled pork. You don’t have to. But that adds a whole extra layer of wow. Real pulled pork though. Not the slow cooker stuff.
It’s pretty easy to make as well. Cook your pasta al dente. Make a béchamel. Melt the cheese into it. Add the pasta. Top with more cheese. Bake. Let stand. Serve. Bask in adulation from everyone who tries it.
This is not health food. It’s not food for when you are watching your weight.
This is going for gold. Win at all costs. Sinful. But every now and then sinful is OK. Life is too short for bad food.
killer mac and cheese
Ingredients
- 1 lb small shell pasta – conchiglie
- 6 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cups milk
- 1 lb gruyere grated
- 12 oz old cheddar grated
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 -12 oz pulled pork finely chopped optional but oh so magical
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375F.
- Bring a large pot of generously salted water to boil. For guidance – generously salted means it tastes like the ocean.
- Cook the pasta until just under the recommended time and drain. It will continue cooking as it bakes so you don’t want it overly soft after boiling.
- Mix the grated cheeses. Reserve around 4 oz of cheese.
- Heat the milk but don’t let it boil.
- In a 2 quart saucepan melt the butter over low heat. Mix in the flour and cook gently for 2 minutes. You don’t want the mixture to colour. After two minutes start adding the warm milk a couple of tablespoons at a time to start mixing constantly. Once you have about a half a cup incorporated you can start adding the milk faster, maybe half a cup at a time. Once you’ve added all the milk bring it to a gentle, gentle boil. It will thicken at this point. If this sounds familiar it’s because you are making a béchamel.
- Add the salt.
- Off heat, add the cheese mixture a handful at a time stirring constantly. After the cheese has incorporated, add the next handful. Repeat until all but the reserved cheese remains. This is called a mornay sauce if you like cooking trivia.
- Fold in the pasta and pork if using and mix. Transfer the mac and cheese mixture to a 10×14 inch oven proof baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved cheese overtop. Cover with tin foil and bake 30-40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes to brown. You may need to broil it briefly. If you do watch it closely. That’s it. Easy and crazy good.
Notes
Nutrition
killer mac and cheese
Ingredients
- 1 lb small shell pasta - conchiglie
- 6 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cups milk
- 1 lb gruyere grated
- 12 oz old cheddar grated
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 -12 oz pulled pork finely chopped optional but oh so magical
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375F.
- Bring a large pot of generously salted water to boil. For guidance - generously salted means it tastes like the ocean.
- Cook the pasta until just under the recommended time and drain. It will continue cooking as it bakes so you don’t want it overly soft after boiling.
- Mix the grated cheeses. Reserve around 4 oz of cheese.
- Heat the milk but don’t let it boil.
- In a 2 quart saucepan melt the butter over low heat. Mix in the flour and cook gently for 2 minutes. You don’t want the mixture to colour. After two minutes start adding the warm milk a couple of tablespoons at a time to start mixing constantly. Once you have about a half a cup incorporated you can start adding the milk faster, maybe half a cup at a time. Once you’ve added all the milk bring it to a gentle, gentle boil. It will thicken at this point. If this sounds familiar it’s because you are making a béchamel.
- Add the salt.
- Off heat, add the cheese mixture a handful at a time stirring constantly. After the cheese has incorporated, add the next handful. Repeat until all but the reserved cheese remains. This is called a mornay sauce if you like cooking trivia.
- Fold in the pasta and pork if using and mix. Transfer the mac and cheese mixture to a 10x14 inch oven proof baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved cheese overtop. Cover with tin foil and bake 30-40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes to brown. You may need to broil it briefly. If you do watch it closely. That’s it. Easy and crazy good.
Notes
Nutrition
Sometimes you screw up. If you don’t you’re not trying hard enough. That’s exactly how I came up with this. I was trying to make these amazing sous vide pork carnitas cubes I saw Rick Bayless do. When they hit the frying pan the pork lard melted and they self destructed. Time to make tacos!
This recipe uses the slow cooking technique called sous vide. Historically the domain of fancy restaurant kitchens, low cost home systems have become available in the last few years. Mine is an Anova. The concept is simple. You vacuum pack what you are cooking and cook it slowly over long periods of time. In this case it took 48 hours at 155F. Not for everyone, but if you have a home sous vide set up give this a try. It’s a fun meal to serve family style.
sous vide pork carnitas tacos
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork shoulder divided into 3 even pieces
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 6 Tbsp rendered pork lard - if you don’t have it don’t worry
- Pork lard to fry the carnitas - vegetable oil is OK in a pinch
- Salt to taste
- 24 corn tortillas
- assorted garnishes cilantro, salsas, pickled red onion etc
Instructions
Sous vide the pork
- Combine the cumin, granulated garlic and chili powder. Season each piece of pork with one third of the seasoning mix. A little goes a long way when you are cooking sous vide. Vacuum pack the pork individually, adding 2 Tbsp of pork lard to each vac pack.
- Set your sous vide up to cook at 155F. Cook the vac packed pork for 48 hours. If not using immediately, heath safety suggests cooling it after 48 hours in ice water then into the fridge. In the vac pack, this keep a few days in the fridge.
To serve
- When ready to serve, remove from the vac pack and fry over high heat in a generous amount of pork lard. If you get to the point where you can’t see free lard in the pan you don’t have enough. You are looking to get some of it crunchy so be bold.
- Cook one pound at a time in a non-stick frying pan. Don’t be tempted to cook it all at once - it won’t brown well. Salt it to taste at this point. Repeat three times.
- Serve the pork carnitas warmed corn tortillas and your assorted garnishes. Let people build tacos to their taste.
