How to Make Baked Mac and Cheese

You see Elton; it takes more than macaroni and cheese to make macaroni and cheese. Elton: How’s that? Because if we just cook that stuff together with that stuff, it’ll end up looking like this stuff. Elton: That’s not good eats Good call, because what you only need is to bring this together with kind of edible blue Elton: Like library paste? Kind of like library paste, but maybe something that taste a little better than that, come on you’ve got some whisking to do. Elton: Oh, bother. First step is to melt three tablespoons of butter over medium heat. We’re going to wait and let it completely finish forming the bubble so that the water is all out of it. Then after that we’re going to whisk in exactly the same amount three tablespoons of flour, go ahead tap that in there Elton: So this is the glue? Well that’s kind of making the glue, it doesn’t turn into glue until we got to completely whisked in and we’ve got to let it cook for a little while. In fact, once we’ve got this smooth, we’re going to cook it over low heat until it is the color of the, the color of your hair. Elton: Now that looked like library paste Yes but it’s not going to taste like library paste because you are going to add a tablespoon of dried mustard powder, stump that right in here and half a teaspoon of paprika, that’s the red stuff there, perfect, good, good; and about half a cup of chopped onions right in there and one bay leaf, perfect. We also got to add in a teaspoon of kosher salt, there you go now; going to shake it, level it off, there you go. Dump that in, perfect, now we’re going to bring that together in the kind of a paste, you know. Okay now, slowly pour in three cups of milk; it’s going to steam a little so watch your arm, okay? There you go, right down the middle, there nice and slow; going to whisk the entire time, going, great. Elton: So, how’s that? That is perfect, but I tell you what. Let’s get the bay leaf out, that’s a little chewy even for me. Elton: So what’s the egg for? That’s a little bit of a secret ingredient, it’s going to add some richness, some extra creaminess but we can’t add it directly to the sauce cause it’s hot, it’ll turn this into scrambled eggs. So, tell you what; take your little spoon there and just put about a tablespoon or two of that into here, that’ll increase the temperature slowly which is all we need. Here you go, good, good. One more? There you see it’s starting to thicken, great. Okay now, you stir and I’ll pour it right back in there Elton: Okay There, this is called tempering and you do that with a lot of sauces, whisk fast, great. Now the last ingredient is of course Elton: The cheese The cheese but we’re only going to add about three quarters of it, we’ve got to save some for the top. Keep stirring. Now once we’ve got that all worked in, all you have to do is fold in our noodles and add to the casserole. Now, last but not the least, a layer of Japanese bread crumbs Elton: But why Japanese? Well because they are very, very coarse and so they’re going to brown up a lot crisper, hand me that melted butter over there. I got a cup of this and a quarter cup of this, here we go. Now the butter is going to help them to brown and brown means crisp and crisp is what a lot of this dish is all about. It’s about contrast between a crunchy top and a creamy interior. We’re just going to smear those on the top, there. Now, half an hour and a 350 degree oven. Sin cookies of the world will be long forgotten Elton: Ah, uncle, who are you talking to? Nobody. So, what do you think? Elton: Well it’s good but I can’t take it to school. What are you talking about? This is the best macaroni and cheese this side of the church social. Elton: Well you see, my friends and I like the kind from a box.