What’s the secret to the richest, creamiest, silky smoothest Mac & Cheese? I’ve tried The Food Lab’s Ultra-Gooey Stovetop Mac and Cheese Recipe by Kenji LĆ³pez-Alt and it’s quite good. But, there’s kind of a lot of steps and ingredients and I’ve heard of this secret ingredient which is supposed to be even better.
Most Mac & Cheese recipes call for butter and flour to make a roux. This acts as a thickener and sort of pseudo emulsifier. Why do we need an emulsifier? Simply, when cheese melts, the water and fat separates. If you’ve ever made your own vinaigrette at home, you know the oil and vinegar need a little bit of mustard (I like tahini!) to bring the two liquids together. Using a roux to emulsify melted cheese only lasts for a little while. Eventually, the cheese becomes this clotted, glunky, there’s-obviously-flour-in-this mess. Kenji uses evaporated milk and eggs to emulsify and thicken his cheese sauce. It totally tastes like Velveeta so I’m not saying it’s a bad method.
The cheese sauce for this Mac and Cheese has only 3 ingredients. One is obviously whichever cheese you choose. The second is milk. You could use water but I haven’t and I advise against it. If you want rich and creamy, you’ve gotta commit to whole milk. The third ingredient is Na3C6H5O7.
Update – What’s Eating Dan on America’s Test Kitchen does a great job explaining the science of Sodium Citrate when making cheese sauce https://youtu.be/GGCA9FcgKX4?t=130
When using sodium citrate to make a silky smooth cheese sauce (yes you can absolutely use this method for the best nacho cheese sauce ever), you’re going to need an immersion blender. A whisk will work but my understanding is it’s not quite as silky smooth. You really wanna rip the bloody hell out of that bond between the fat and water in the cheese. Stick blenders are pretty affordable and I use mine often for soups and sauces. You’re doing science here, man! Eat Up!
Alright, so we’re going to whisk the milk and sodium citrate in a medium sauce pan. Then bring it up to almost a simmer before we start adding a bit of grated cheese at a time. I used a blend of medium cheddar and fontina but you really can use whatever you want. Each small handful we add we’re going to completely integrate with the blender before we add any more. This whole process takes less than ten minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Wait! Taste it! RIGHT!?! š
Make the pasta. You could use elbows or shells but, if you can find it, I really like the super-elbow-spiral Cellentani made by Barilla for my Mac & Cheese. Just combine the cheese sauce with your pasta and serve.
Bonus garnish: in a nonstick pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of butter and a 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Add 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs. Toss until browned. Set aside then put some diced bacon in that pan to get crispy.
I hope you give this a try. It’s actually quite easy and worth experimenting with something you can’t find in the grocery store. You can tell your friends you were doing some “molecular gastronomy” this weekend.
Mac and Cheese
2
servings0
minutes20
minutes20
minutesThe cheese sauce for this Mac and Cheese has only 3 ingredients. Your favorite cheese, whole milk, and Sodium Citrate. Check Eat Up! KitchenĀ for a link to buy it online.
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
12 ounces Grated Cheese
10 grams Sodium Citrate
1 cup Whole Milk
1/2 lb Barilla Cellentani pasta
Directions
- Combine milk and sodium citrate in a medium sauce pan.
- Bring milk just to a simmer.
- Using an immersion blender, add a small handful of cheese at a time. Incorporate fully before adding more.
- Remove from heat when incorporated.
- Add 2 tablespoons salt and 1/2 pound cellentani pasta to a medium sauce pan and cover with at least 1 inch of water.
- Bring pasta to a boil and cook until done.
- Drain pasta extremely well then add cheese sauce.
- Garnish with fried panko and bacon.
Notes
- The sauce will thicken as you add more cheese. Ā By no means do you need to stick to one type of cheese or the recipe’s suggestion of 12 ounces.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @eatupkitchen on Instagram and hashtag it
Like this recipe?
Follow us @eatupkitchen on Pinterest
I found the cheese to pasta ratio too high. The pasta was completely drowned in sauce and was tough to eat more than a little bit.
Also, definitely don’t need an immersion blender. I just used a rubber spatula to stir in the cheese a bit at a time. It incorporated just fine that way. Save yourself the hassle of trying to clean cooled sodium citrate cheese sauce off of a kitchen gadget. Stuff is like glue.
Hmmm, I’ll have to give this recipe another try soon to see if it needs a revision. You can get the job done with spatulas and whisks but nothing beats the immersion blender. I appreciate the feedback!
Hi Anthony!
Iām making this tonight for Sunday Supper with a roast ham. Yum!!! Can I put this in a baking dish anbake to get that bubbly around the edges with a nice crispy top? Iām doubling the recipe.
Thanks, Eileen
Hi Eileen. Sorry, I just saw your comment now. How did it turn out?? This isnāt a traditional ābaked mac and cheeseā recipe (which I think makes this easier) but I donāt see how some oven time would hurt. To finish this in the oven Iād grease a baking dish with butter, add the cooked mac and a bread crumb topping. For the topping Iād mix panko bread crumbs with some melted butter, grated parmesan, and some black pepper. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
What is the serving size on this recipe ?
Thanks !
Hey Sean. This recipe calls for a half pound of pasta so it’s about two good bowl’s worth. If you want to have this as a side to a main course then it should be enough to feed four.
Thank you !
This looks good. I got an immersion blender recently, but I can’t find anything to make with it that’s healthy.
So, you’re saying I need to post a recipe for cauliflower and leek soup so you can use your immersion blender? Will work on that this week!
I think my friend Chris used this or a similar method for mac & cheese he brought to my pot luck years ago. I may need to experiment myself. What kind of immersion blender to you use? I have one, but am not sure how efficient it will be.
Any immersion blender would be just fine. The one I have is linked in the post.