Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese

today.com

Laura L

salt

1 poundcavatappi or elbow macaroni

½ cupunsalted butter

½ cupall-purpose flour

6 cupswhole milk

1 poundsharp or extra-sharp yellow cheddar, coarsely grated (5¼ cups)

8 ouncesVelveeta, torn into pieces

4 ouncesPecorino Romano, coarsely grated (1 cup)

½ teaspoondry mustard powder

¼ teaspoononion powder

1 pinchground cayenne

freshly ground black pepper

This recipe is inspired by Stouffer's macaroni and cheese and delivers the best of all worlds: creamy, saucy, comfort, with a consistency that's slightly more set than a stovetop version, thanks to a final bake in the oven. It stays voluptuous and molten as a result of a higher ratio of sauce to noodles, which are cooked completely so they don't soak up as much liquid. For me, it does come from an emotional and personal place. I grew up eating Stouffer's mac and cheese and it was always my idea of what a mac and cheese should be: heftier than a stovetop mac and more voluptuous than a classic Southern baked mac (which is also so, so delicious and very important to many people, but I didn't grow up with that). I think what makes a Stouffer's mac and cheese special from a regular stovetop or baked mac and cheese is that it exists somewhere between the two. It's creamy, but it's also a little set with those baked edges, which you can take as far as you like. You get the best of both worlds, I think. This recipe is inspired by Stouffer's macaroni and cheese and delivers the best of all worlds: creamy, saucy, comfort, with a consistency that's slightly more set than a stovetop version, thanks to a final bake in the oven. It stays voluptuous and molten as a result of a higher ratio of sauce to noodles, which are cooked completely so they don't soak up as much liquid. For me, it does come from an emotional and personal place. I grew up eating Stouffer's mac and cheese and it was always my idea of what a mac and cheese should be: heftier than a stovetop mac and more voluptuous than a classic Southern baked mac (which is also so, so delicious and very important to many people, but I didn't grow up with that). I think what makes a Stouffer's mac and cheese special from a regular stovetop or baked mac and cheese is that it exists somewhere between the two. It's creamy, but it's also a little set with those baked edges, which you can take as far as you like. You get the best of both worlds, I think.

TECHNIQUE TIP: The biggest lesson I learned has to be how to get that perfect cheese sauce texture, almost like nacho cheese. I have to give some credit to my food stylist friend Jesse Szewczyk. I was testing the recipe and had baked off maybe 10 pans of macaroni and cheese that day and was going a little crazy, and the cheese kept separating. The texture was grainy and watery, or the noodles had soaked up all the moisture, which tends to happen with many baked macaroni and cheeses that don't have stabilizing agents in them. Jesse told me that food stylists use sodium citrate to stabilize mixtures like that, so the key to keeping this sauce creamy, gooey and together is Velveeta, which has sodium citrate in it. TECHNIQUE TIP: The biggest lesson I learned has to be how to get that perfect cheese sauce texture, almost like nacho cheese. I have to give some credit to my food stylist friend Jesse Szewczyk. I was testing the recipe and had baked off maybe 10 pans of macaroni and cheese that day and was going a little crazy, and the cheese kept separating. The texture was grainy and watery, or the noodles had soaked up all the moisture, which tends to happen with many baked macaroni and cheeses that don't have stabilizing agents in them. Jesse told me that food stylists use sodium citrate to stabilize mixtures like that, so the key to keeping this sauce creamy, gooey and together is Velveeta, which has sodium citrate in it.

Directions at today.com

Never lose a recipe again, not even if the original website goes away! Use the Copy Me That button to create your own complete copy of any recipe that you find online. Learn more! It's free!

Page footer