It is common knowledge that few people in the world, let alone a single child, can deny their true love and admiration of a delicious portion of macaroni and cheese! It's the comfort food we all crave year round and seems to never leave us hanging. You can enjoy it at big holiday meals or as a simple side to almost any protein, but no matter when you get to dig in you will almost certainly be asking for a second helping. Let me present today's slightly more sophisticated cousin to that boxed noodle and powdered cheese blasphemy we all certainly love, but comes nowhere close to the satisfaction that this Southern Baked Macaroni and Cheese dish provides one hundred times over! Sorry health nuts and low carb dieters, this recipe is not for you. As for the rest of you all, stick around and check it out. This mac and cheese will blow the rest out of the park!
Like any pasta noodle dish, we will begin by bringing a pot of water up to a boil and adding several tablespoons of kosher salt. This is the one and only time the noodles themselves get individual seasoning attention so don't forget to salt your water! Cook the elbow macaroni until al dente, about 7 minutes max. We will be baking everything later on so we want the noodles to maintain enough texture and body to hold up to a second cook and cheese sauce swamping! Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water to prevent any further carryover cooking. They can be set aside while we work on that tasty cheese sauce.
Now the cheese sauce may stir up some controversy because it can be made a few different ways. I will walk you all through the more difficult method of creating a roux and completely working from scratch, but also quickly describe a more simple method that works, but just isn't quite as good in my opinion. Anyway, like any sauce worth its weight in gold, we will begin by creating a roux, or a 50/50 mix of fat and flour. In our case, melt a half a stick or so of butter in a medium to large size pot. Once it's melted, toss in an equal amount of flour and stir/whisk to combine over medium heat. Go ahead and add some mustard powder at this point as well. It is very important to remember here to keep everything moving around to prevent burning your roux. We want to cook the flour, but not burn or leave it raw, either. Continue to stir it around and cook for about five minutes until you achieve a golden color or light peanut butter brown hue as seen below.
At this point, pour in just enough milk, about a half cup, to thin out the roux and create a uniform semi-thick gravy of sorts. Once you get all the lumps out, add the rest of the milk and stir to combine. Toss in some super finely diced onions (use a food processor if you wish) and some paprika. Keep stirring this mixture and allow it to cook for about ten minutes. When it begins to thicken on its own, you will know it's time to move on to the next step.
Now this step may be the trickiest part of this cheese sauce. Quickly crack an egg and whip it up like you are making scrambled eggs or something. Slowly, and I mean slowly, pour the egg into the mixture as you frantically stir to combine. You don't actually want the egg to start cooking like scrambled eggs but just melt into the mixture for some body and flavor. This is called tempering. Feel free to look it up or just trust me and pour it slower than you think possible while you stir to prevent it from cooking solid.
Assuming you all managed to temper your egg in, add about 3/4 of the shredded cheese at this point. You can use any premade mixture you like or shred your own. I used a triple cheddar blend myself, but in the past I have used just about every cheese you can imagine, including Velveeta. Hey don't knock it till after the nuclear fallout and it's the only cheese left to make this recipe! Nonetheless, personalize it to your own taste preferences or what you already have at home. I would suggest staying in the mild flavor range of cheese and avoiding any stronger, sour, or "fancy stinky stuff" we all enjoy in other dishes and recipes, though. Reduce the heat and continue to stir periodically as the cheese melts into the sauce.
Still with me? At this point you should have a rich and creamy cheese sauce perfect for mac and cheese or simply to dip some tortillas in as a snack. If it feels a bit too thick, add a bit more milk to thin it out. If you think you are on the runny side, just add more cheese! Either way, it should be loose enough to pour but nowhere near a cheese soup consistency. Hey it's your sauce so you make the call on your own!
Now for my more lazy folks that don't want to deal with making a roux and adding that extra layer of flavor, I have a little shortcut for this same cheese sauce. Rather than using milk, just begin by heating some heavy cream in a pot and adding in your mustard powder, paprika, and onions. Once the onions are "cooked," drop in the shredded cheese like above and carry on in the same manner. The cream sauce method works if you are in a hurry, but it just doesn't equate to the few extra minutes of making a roux and going all out. Try it both ways and let me know what you think. The cream sauce will likely be thinner and require additional cheese, though, just sayin! Not always a bad thing, as long as you are prepared with the goods!
At this point you could just add your precooked noodles to the cheese sauce and call it a day. You may want to let the noodles finish cooking a bit longer in the hot cheese bath, but it will be a pretty good macaroni and cheese nonetheless. As for everyone else, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a baking dish with some nonstick oil or butter. Add your noodles to the cheese sauce pot to make sure you don't have too many noodles and not enough sauce or vice versa. It's better to find out now and make some more noodles quick than have it already dumped into your baking dish and be wrong. It should be correct if you follow my recipe card amounts, though. Once again, if the cheese sauce seems to be lacking compared to the noodles, just stir in some more milk or cream to lightly thin it out and make a better cheese sauce to noodle ration. Just be careful not to overdo it and make it too runny. If you are feeling lucky at this point, pour the sauce and noodle mixture into your greased baking dish and level everything out. Hopefully it looks something similar to mine below!
Remember only using 3/4 of the cheese before? Now is the time to spread the remaining shredded cheese over everything in the dish. This stuff will have time to melt during the baking process coming up shortly.
One more quick step to add a little crunch to this bad boy! Melt another half stick of butter in the microwave quick and pour it over about a cup of panko breadcrumbs in a bowl. Stir thoroughly to get the butter over all the breadcrumb bits. Spread the buttered panko over the entire baking dish to create a crispy topping and seal in everything delicious beneath!
Toss this bad boy into your preheated oven and bake uncovered for 30 minutes, checking to ensure the topping doesn't burn towards the end of the time. It should just have a nice light browning but every oven is different so just be mindful! Once the topping is crisp and brown, remove the dish from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving!
Throw on some sliced green onion for looks or just dig in! The macaroni and cheese itself should be ooey gooey amazing against the crispy panko topping for a nice all in one bite!
Now before I officially declare this as the best damn Southern Baked Mac and Cheese you will ever devour, I have a couple additional tweaks/ideas you may wish to try at some point. Feel free to toss some partially cooked bacon cut down into bite sized pieces into the noodles and cheese mixture. Everyone loves bacon and it just happens to add a nice hint of smoky umami flavor to this recipe. And finally, drum roll please, rather than using standard panko breadcrumbs, feel free to use anything really as the topping. Put some CHEEZ-IT crackers, cheesy Doritos/chips, or even Cheetos in a food processer and break them down into "breadcrumbs!" I'm not the breadcrumb police so do whatever you can dream up in your mind. I will warn, however, that these already cooked crackers and chips will brown quicker and burn if you are not careful and pay close attention. You may want to leave them off and just cook the noodles and cheese "naked" for 15 minutes before adding them to the top and finishing the last 10-15 minutes. No matter what you keep the same or change, take some pics and let me know on Instagram under @grubbongrub what you did and thought about my take on this classic side dish. The possibilities are endless so use your imagination and try something new. No matter what, just keep cooking and making life tasty!
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