I love that Ethan blindfolded himself during the second tasting when he chose not to shuffle the samples around because he already knows which Mac n cheese is which and he already knows what they look like because he made them. All he did was make it much harder for himself to eat, and it doesn't help that each container started off closed LOL To all the people saying that it's a texture thing, he could have just closed his eyes after putting the Mac n cheese in his mouth lol
I do think that getting rid of the visual aspect of eating makes you really focus on the taste. But yes, it really just made it harder for him to eat as he struggled trying to get a spoonful of pasta out of each container haha.
Blindfolding himself them was an important step. It removes one sense (sight). He was also mostly quiet while eating so that is sense #2 gone. That leaves his brain to solely focus on the taste and texture. The 5th sense, smell was there but he can mostly ignore that and focus on the taste and touch/texture. Also going in order means he could really focus in on the differences going up up the % cheddar scale. Yes it made it harder for him to eat but him doing this helped him a lot to get a better understanding of the taste and texture of each.
My personal recipe is a mix of White Cheddar, Smoked Gouda, white American, and cream cheese. It’s super rich and flavorful, and insanely creamy. I also specifically wanted my Mac n cheese to be closer to white in color than yellow. The Gouda is the only yellow cheese I use, but it’s a smaller amount in comparison because it’s so strong in flavor. Don’t underestimate cream cheese. Add a bit to whatever other cheeses you use for an extra bump in flavor and creaminess
@@kevinanderson6558white cheddar is usually only extra sharp, and with there being so many other flavors in this mac n cheese, and extra sharp cheddar would bring it all together imo
So first off I wanted to say that I really appreciate you doing a test with Velveeta and sharp cheddar here. I know lots of us keyboard warriors online are going to scream "Just go buy some sodium citrate!" But I think using a mix of a processed cheese, like American or Velveeta, just makes it so much more accessible. It really adds a LOT of versatility to have the recipe be all things you can find in your local grocery store rather than something you will have to special order. Now, that said, I definitely WOULD like to see some of these sauces tested against sauce of xtra sharp cheddar, sodium citrate, and liquid. In fact I'd really like to see a test of water vs milk vs evaporated milk in that test. I have some sodium citrate, and you use so little of it that once you've got it you are set for a while; but I'd really like to know just *how* much benefit is it to use sodium citrate vs mixing with a processed cheese. Is there any benefit? Please, make that video for us. We really want to know the answers.
+1 on wanting this video! I personally like a processed cheese blend more than all "real cheese" + sodium citrate, but I can't quite explain why. And it's possible that a flavouring cheese + melting cheese + sodium citrate blend might be better...but I trust Ethan to nail down the science of that one!
l337 A roux dilutes the cheese sauce with milk, flour and butter, and some people dislike that as much as you dislike Velveeta. You're taking up precious space, calories and flavour on a bland medium that pure cheese could occupy instead. A roux is fine for lighter cheese-included sauces or baked mac and cheese where you want more liquid at first. A processed cheese is all cheese, same with sodium citrate + real cheese.
Maybe we should really just buy the sodium citrate. Like I know I don’t have sodium citrate but I know it’s on Amazon and that’s hardly special ordering. And then when I think about it once you have the sodium citrate you’re set, we’d never have to buy velveeta ever again. Just using whatever you cheese you have it could be way more accessible. The one issue is I don’t love velveeta that much I get sick of it easy but idk if it’s the texture or the taste. I do know the idea of turning any tasting cheese into velveeta is very interesting to me
@CantStopTheSignal337 There are some videos on the difference between thickening the sauce with flour and creating an emulsion with sodium citrate. This channel has one on it. The sodium citrate cheese sauce has a smoother texture and will not break when reheated vs flour. You also have the added benefit of not adding filler carbs to your sauce. Also, I hate to tell you this, but processed cheese like Velveeta is just milk and cheddar bonded together with sodium citrate salt. It is basically the same thing you can make yourself with sodium citrate. If you think Velveeta tastes like plastic, then you probably don't like cheddar cheese either. Either that or you are suffering from a placebo effect.
That venn diagram is insanely helpful. If I'm making more than just a simple stovetop Mac and cheese I typically use a young cheddar, smoked Gouda, and parmigiano reggiano to balance the flavor and texture and it's an awesome mix
Somewhat relatedly, the combination that works best for me is sharp Cheddar, young Gouda, and Swiss. Plus, believe it or not, a touch of Limburger now and then gives a very pleasant punch-up. (Plus, it's almost like cheese-following the hypothesized migration line of the longest-known root of my family tree, from around the French Alps, up through eastern Belgium and the low countries, and across the Channel to England.) As for the relative amounts of each cheese, the ratio I always use is: MORE!
Love this one. Please do more mac and cheese with the different emulsions, comparing roux, pasta water, salts, velveta, etc. as you said at the start, as well as cheese blends. There is so much to be explored here. This video was probably your best since your burger science series.
Or a mix! I do mine with a bechamel (roux + milk) to make a Mornay, but I add sodium citrate, not too much to get that weird taste, but it's silky smooth and you get the full flavour of the cheese since there is no Velveeta or cheese slices.
Ethan, with Thanksgiving coming up could you experiment with a traditional baked mac n cheese that maintains the creamy gooeyness of stovetop mac? Last year I tried one w/ sodium citrate and it could be better.
I won't be able to get to it this year, but here is what I would try! 1. Make stovetop mac & cheese ahead of time. Store in the fridge. 2. Thanksgiving day, transfer the mac to a casserole dish. Pour over some evaporated or regular milk to mix in with the cold mac. Then top with cheese/breadcrumbs/bacon. 3. Bake at 400 F until browned to your liking on top. I think by having the cold mac & cheese mixed with the milk it will stay super creamy as it heats up in the oven and the top browns.
@@EthanChlebowski Brilliant. Me & the 5lb block of white cheddar in my fridge will have a good time trying it out. Thank you for taking the time to write that!
My secret to maintaining the gooeyness is to toss butter into the pasta as soon as I've drained the water and mix it around until it melts. Something about that fat thoroughly coating the pasta keeps it from soaking up cheese liquid while baking.
The answer youre looking for is make a traditional roux based mornay sauce style mac and cheese WITH sodium citrate. And then use a stick blender and blend until it is creamy smooth. Adding the sodium citrate gives you the ooey gooey melty sauce consistency, but the roux (when properly browned) imparts way more flavor.
@@EthanChlebowski - I had a similar question and I like your answer. However, I also wanted to ask you about adding cream cheese into the mix. I know someone who taught me that blending cream cheese and sharp cheddar results in gooey, melty cheddar, close to Velveeta texture but a bit more firm, and the cream cheese doesn't impart any taste to the final product. What do you think of this idea? I'm planning to use 2 lbs of cheese, 2pints heavy cream, 4 tbsp butter to make a cheese sauce, pour it over a pound of elbows and bake. I'm leaving out the flour (roux) because even with the citrate (2% of cheese weight), my last cheese sauce was WAY too thick, even after I cut it with 1 cup of low sodium chicken stock. My plan was 1 lb extra sharp cheddar, 1 lb Monterey Jack. Do you think using the citrate, or using an 8 oz block of Philly cream cheese, would be a better idea? Sorry for the longish post, but I wanted to be sure you had all the info so you could answer me. Love the channel. Thanks!
I love these videos, it feels like a behind the scenes look into the old cooks illustrated articles about their "best practice" kinda deals, but this way we can decide for ourselves what we think is best! Love it! Can't wait for a part 2
Ethan, you couldn't have come out with this at a better time for me. I haven't made mac and cheese in a while and I was planning to do it this weekend, so I'll be putting this knowledge to test! >:D
What did you think of Ethan's recipe? I like baking my mac n cheese with a Ritz cracker topping. I'm thinking that using equal parts of evaporated milk/cheese with pasta isn't cheesy/liquidy enough? Please let me know if you think I should amp up the liquid/cheese ratio. My son does love a super saucy mac n cheese.
I've played around with this over the years. For me, a big thing was also for the sauce to stay liquid for as long as possible, as quite often as soon as it cools it starts to seize up. I initially started with a 50 / 50 cheddar:american, but realised I just prefer the flavour of cheddar so much more, and the only thing american cheese contributed was the sodium citrate anyway. So now I do a recipe that's 90% cheddar with 10% pecorino/parmigiano, and emulsify it in milk with a combination of sodium citrate and cornflour. This way I get a very smooth cheese sauce that stays liquid for a long while, whilst providing a lot of nice cheesy flavour.
I do a similar thing. It's a great way to use up cheese rinds too as they have loads of flavour but are nearly inedible unless you melt them into something. Try doing it exactly the same but with blue cheese on steaks and burgers.
Another important thing that I don't think he mentioned (might have missed it) is how much the sodium citrate helps with REHEATING. When you have the sodium citrate + evaporated milk combo, mac n cheese reheats SO much better in the microwave.
Would love to see the next video be you testing the different ways to stabilize the cheese sauce! I generally make a bechamel and then add cheese, then stir the cooked pasta through that once the cheese has melted.
Pretty much the best way imho. Mixing with a processed American plastic cheese is disgusting and makes the meal less wholesome. A simple roux/ bechamel sauce with a good cheddar will make a good creamy macaroni cheese.
I am really grateful for your videos. I've never thought about combining cheeses to harness their best traits into one dish. On a separate note, I got a good laugh out of you blindfolding yourself at the end despite knowing which ones you were eating
I did too! Then I realized he was trying to focus on his sense of taste (and probably smell) to get those dialed in and not be influenced by the creamy vs drier look. But I was right there with you at first! lol
@@italiana626scHaha that’s exactly why I still decided to blind fold. Wanted to eliminate my sight to really focus in on the texture, smell, and taste!
Hi Ethan I just subscribed to your channel, and this is the second video I watched on your channel. (The first one I saw was your haluska video) I wanted to say that I thought this video was so awesome and well detailed. Mac and cheese is a really nostalgic food to me, after cooking eggs and toast boxed Mac and cheese was the first meal I learned to cook as an 8 year old kid. The way you elevate this dish through your research was very reverential. And that’s awesome.
I'd love a second video about emulsifiers! I have a bag of sodium citrate that I've been using pretty effectively for my mac n cheeses, would be great to know the variances on ratios and/or if there are better options.
If you buy citric acid at Ace Hardware (they have it for canning in the kitchen aisle) and mix it with baking soda and water, it will chemically react and you'll get sodium citrate. It's fun to watch the chemical reaction fizz. I add the solution to Mac and cheese and it works well.
Been praying for a mac n cheese deep dive for a while now, it was my go to meal in uni and seeing it broken down into food science has made me wanna go back and experiment some more!
This topic definitely feels worthy of a deep dive. It feels like this just scratched the surface, and has so much more potential to learn a lot more about this process and how it works
Literally the best Mac N Cheese I ever made was when me and my friends were drunk off our rocker and we were all hungry. So I decided to cook up a quick Mac N Cheese with the following ratios (approximately!): 20% Pecorino 30% Mild Cheddar 50% American Cheese As well as a healthy dosing of pasta water! Use MSG instead of salt because the Pecorino is salty by itself! Top with Pre-ground black pepper (it just tastes right on Mac N Cheese) Top-notch stuff, glad to see that the 50/50 split of Melting to Flavoring cheese is indeed the desired ratio for most optimized Smoothness and Taste! :D
@@bluecup25 It's not hard to divide ingredients into percentages Say you used 5 cups of cheese or something along those lines. 1 cup would be pecorino, 1 1/2 cup would be mild cheddar, and then 2 1/2 cups would be american. Pretty simple, and applicable to any recipe with some division.
When I make mac&cheese I always make it baked. I make a béchamel sauce and add 60% Velvetta, 30% extra sharp cheddar and 10% Parmigiano Reggiano. It seems to have the correct ratio of creaminess and bite of cheese that I find irresistible.
My aunt has been making her own my whole life for the holidays; I’m 28 now. She mixes multiple for a baked Mac and cheese. It’s a old recipe from her father… I went to culinary school and everything and hers is better😂🤦🏻♂️ From what I know you want a of balance between thickness, pull, flavor, smoothness/silkiness, and a somewhat cheese top crunch… it’s apparently a science her father spent his life perfecting and she learned watching him hundreds of times. Edit: I’m so sorry to everyone asking. I don’t know the recipe at all. 😂😂ima failure ik. All Ik she makes a cheese sauce/bechamel, uses whole milk and real butter, she uses velveeta. She really only makes it for holidays like thanksgiving and Christmas.
I make Mac & Cheese starting with a Roux made (usually) with Bacon Fat, then into a Bechamel, garlic and other seasonings, then I add a variety of cheeses to make a Mornay Sauce. This is where I was curious -- which variety of cheeses should I use? My go-to currently is some American, Sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack and/or Swiss or Gouda. I have tried adding some Parmesan, some Mozzarella, some Mexican crumbling cheese, smoked provolone -- I'm willing to try all kinds of varieties. However, I think that the Mornay Sauce, while it is a little more work, makes a superior Mac & Cheese. I usually make the baked version, with either a crumb topping (Panko, butter, salt and Parmesan) or those French Fried Onions. I've tried add-ins like crumbled bacon, chopped pepperoni, cooked spicy sausage, caramelized onions. I would love to see you try a variety of cheeses to see which combination is superior.
I agree with you. Maybe because I am Canadian, I have never made the type of Mac and cheese in this video. Like you, I always start with a roux…adding onion to the butter first then the milk and a ton of extra old cheddar and a pinch of cayenne. Panko or breadcrumb topping and baked. I would miss the crunchy topping if I only had the stovetop version. The flavor of the extra old cheddar is excellent but it does end up a bit grainy. I am going to try mixing another cheese in. I love your idea of incorporating the crispy onions on top.
Parrano and gruyere is the best mac n cheese "flavor cheese" blend. Beechers if you're on the west coast is good too. My melting go to is a fontina or Raclette. I usually do a 50/50 blend. Very curious about the optimal ratio, though. Edit: just finished the video- good to know the 50/50 is recommended!
The recipe I use for 1lb of pasta is 6tbsp butter Roux, 12oz evap milk, 12oz cream, 16oz velveeta, 8oz extra sharp, 8oz gruyere, 8oz fresh parm. So it works out to 43oz of goo, 24oz of flavoring cheese. Makes a fantastic thanksgiving mac
Comté makes a really good flavoring cheese, either on its own or with extra sharp cheddar. My father (may he rest in peace) used to make a really good mac and cheese with tuna that paired really well with it.
I really want to make Mac & Cheese! For cauliflower and broccoli cheese I use a 1:1:1 mix of gouder, smoked red Leicester, and extra mature cheddar, (melted into a white sauce base). This is the mix I settled on because doesn't degrade or harden up when reheating in a microwave making it perfect for a hot lunch at the office.
Varying the amount of liquid just slightly would change the whole game again. Especially considering the time variant: Instantly devouring it vs waiting just five minutes is already a huge difference in perceives dryness. Btw, don't forget your corn starch gel video. This could be applied here, too.
A hallmark for mac n cheese is that processed Velveeta cheese its so good and the texture is amazing, I'm so glad you posted a video on this. One I recommend is 50% velveeta 25% Cheddar and 25% smoked gouda. The aroma of the gouda and the taste of the cheddar and the smoothness of the velveeta makes it one of my favorites so far.
Thanks for all that you do Ethan! Whenever I want a recipe (or deep dive) I can just search your vids and find not only the recipe but full explanation of why, how etc. you are literally teaching me to understand my ingredients and science behind cooking. Anyway love your work, thanks for Sunshine Coast Australia.
Great video Ethan! I'd be really interested in seeing the other 3 tests you mentioned about noodle shape etc to determine the ultimate stove top max & cheese!
My fav is 40gr US PARM, 40gr American and 40gr Extra Sharp Ched. Roux of 2Tbsp Butter 2Tblsp Flour. 8oz Whole Milk. Salt, Black Pepper, and Cayenne. Parm and Ched can be grainy so make sure the Beshamel is bubbling well when you add Parm and Ched cause they need higher temp to melt well.
Your problem is using evaporated milk. I use a butter/flour roux with 1/2&1/2, then add somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 extra sharp cheddar. After I add the pasta, I finish with a tablespoon or two of heavy cream. Silky smooth with no dryness. I will say that I use grocery store Extra Sharp Cheddar (like Kraft, etc.) not an premium aged Vermont cheddar, or something like that.
A touch of blue cheese really unlocks the flavor of mac and cheese. So far for me the best method is to toast a roux until goden, then add in paprika, black pepper, mustard powder, and cayenne. Whole milk for the béchamel, then add in 3/4 sharp cheddar and 1/4 blue cheese. I bet you could easily replace some of that sharp cheddar with velveeta here to maintain creaminess, although whenever I made it it was always perfectly creamy and ever so slightly stretchy. toasted panko is perfect for a garnish and nutmeg can also go into the spice blend if you like
Try a 50/50 blend of Havarti and Aged Cheddar. It's incredible with mac & cheese, and especially if you mix in some smoked brisket or something to really bump up that flavor.
Mac and cheese is an easy top 5 foods for me. Using Velveeta as a texture improver has been my go to for years now! I find the best results come from using a roux based sauce with about 25% half-and-half or coffee cream to 75% milk. Then a light, light pinch of fresh nutmeg and cayenne. Season well with salt and a little black pepper. I find the 25/75 mix of Velveeta to old/sharp cheddar works well with the roux based sauce. Chef kiss
Hey everyone, I used Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce to add flavor to my mac and chese. I don't know the prices in the US, but I know good cheese is expensive. I live in France so I have a huge variety of cheeses to choose from (and some are really expensive here too), but I thought maybe the sauce was an alternative to help a bland cheese. I do mine with roux and heavy cream + bacon and lots of cheese AND the sauce, and Dijon mustard. Then of course, I bake it with lots of cheese on to create the perfect blend of creamy insides and crispy top... The taste is amazing, but my recipe is not cheap ;-) My nephew loves it
For those who don't like Velveeta they can always switch it with cream cheese. cream cheese makes great macaroni cheese if you blend it with other cheese right.
I tend to be a Sodium Citrate mac and cheese kind of guy, since you can get that ultra smooth texture without having to account for it with velveeta. I also tend to like using different cheeses depending on the composition of the dish. I'll use a milder monetary jack and mozzarella mix whenever I include bacon in the pasta, since I think the saltiness of cheddar gets overwhelming when mixed with the bacon. But I'll use stronger cheeses (gouda, cheddar, or gruyere if I'm feeling fancy) with chicken dishes. A bit half and half for hamburger.
Tapioca flour/starch has better flavor and thickening properties than cornstarch. The other thing that helps is boiling the shells in your frying pan and just reducing the water you boiled the noodles in to build the sauce. Add your starch to a jar of cold water and shake to incorporate, then add small amounts to the hot pan until you get what you're looking for. Also, you should build your sauce with cream and use champagne or white vinegar to knock down the sweetness. Only thing your missing is little smokies fried in a separate pan and mixed in while still hot and crispy right before serving. Maybe toss in a ramekin top with cheese and melt and crisp up the cheese topping under a broiler. If you go the broiler route you overcook the noodles, so you have to offset that by intentionally undercooking the noodles in the pan to end up with el dente noodles coming out of the oven. Technical mac and cheese is a super hard target to hit, it goes sideways real quick.
Good info Ethan. I always do a roux and two to three cheeses. Roux's are tricky because you have to watch it well over several minutes as you try to cook out the flour taste and not burn it. Velveeta, what can you say. Most of us learned early to make our first Mac n cheeses with this product. It's smooth. Recently I learned about sodium citrate and how to make your own at home and am looking forward to going down this rabbit hole. You are right. It's fun to experiment. Cheers
I think we need another video where you dive deeper into the equation and test different options. I always use butter for mac and cheese and I like to use other cheeses like fontina or gruyere for the cheese flavors. I would love to see you blind taste test these different options to find the optimal combos
I've been doing 45/45/10 combination of Velveeta, sharp cheddar, and parmesan and it tastes great. Melt that with evaporated milk, some sodium citrate to keep everything smooth, and optionally some cayenne pepper and smoked paprika, and it's pretty incredible.
I do a baked Mac and Cheese with a bechamel-based sauce. My ratios are 3 tbs butter and flour, 2 cups milk (I usually use 2%), 1/4 tsp dried mustard, 8 oz of extra sharp cheddar, and 1/2 lb of pasta. I find that extra sharp cheddar works best there since the sauce provides so much more liquid.
one thing i appreciate your videos is that you take it from a culinary standpoint and making sure we as the audience have the foundation and key stuff down first. Really helped me grasp that cooking isnt super complex but figuring out which works well together and from there do the magic.
One thing I have been experimenting with when I make Mac n. Cheese lately is to use a combination of a smooth melting cheese (like an American or Jack cheese) and a very sharp cheddar and then (this is the secret) hit it with an immersion blender to really emulsify the sauce before adding the pasta.
When the wife makes Mac and cheese for the holidays from scratch, I always tell her to add one slice of American cheese for the sodium citrate to help smooth out the cheese. She still doesn’t understand until AFTER she tastes it. This is after nearly four years of marriage and it’s always the same every year. Love that woman to death.
The one cheese I find indispensable for making mac and cheese, au gratin potatoes, and just cooking in general is Kerrygold Dubliner. It's a unique cheese that's kinda of like cheddar, kind of like parmesan, but ultimately distinct from either of those. It's very easy to grate and creates a rich, creamy sauce. I buy 1.5lb blocks from Sam's Club and always have it in my fridge. Decent snacking cheese, and while I haven't tried it yet, I suspect it is close enough to parmesan to be used in Alfredo sauce too.
I think I have a weird palate, because my issue with processed cheese isn't that it's bland and flavorless like I typically hear from chefs and food influencers. On the contrary, for me it has a very distinct flavor I dislike and cuts through most other things it's paired with (it's a weird slightly bitter taste). On top of that, it gets so gooey that it sticks inside my mouth, so I get to experience that disagreeable taste for an extended period. Just something that crossed my mind while watching the taste test
My non-traditional recipe: I've always used extra sharp cheddar and a good portion of parm (either Parmesan or Parmigiano Reggiano) and I'm usually too much in a hurry to measure. The roux is butter, flour and 2% milk. Trotrolle pasta works well and I usually add cooked broccoli, cauliflower and/or cherry tomatoes to make it "healthy" of course. Baked with bread crumbs on top...delicious!
What’s so great about Mac n cheese is it’s incredibly customizable. Everyone has a preferred noodle, cheese, texture etc and it’s interesting seeing how they all come together to make something so lovely. I’m currently on my own journey to rate as many boxed macs in my lifetime as possible purely based on my own preferences and it’s been fun to experiment and add things to boxed ones that didnt quite hit the mark but could be really improved on. Pro tip, never try the ketchup cheetos Mac n cheese it’s literally just ketchup and noodles and no one needs to experience that
I'd also be interested in seeing if baking the Mac n cheese would have an effect on the different percentages. Maybe the 75% because the baking gives it more time to meld with the noodle or maybe the 25% pull ahead because the other two start to exhibit stronger dry flavors.
I always do 50% American, 25% cheddar, 25% asiago. White cheddar melts extremely well too and the flavor is much more potent than a mild or medium cheddar, I have found. I melt butter in the pan with my milk/half n half/whipping cream (depends on what we have in the house) and then add the melty cheeses first, then once those have all emulsified, I turn it to low heat and whisk in the sharper cheeses. Works like a charm. Also, if you want an extra thick texture, you can boil your noodles in milk and don't drain them. The pasta starch thickens the milk once they're al dente, and it makes a very rich flavor. However, it's quite challenging to eat lots of it in one sitting, so it's better to have that as a side dish and not the main course.
Dude, you did great work on this. I was finally able to make the kind of mac and cheese I've been trying to (and failing at) for years with this approach.
Interesting video and hope you make more about this topic. If I make homemade Mac and cheese I use American cheese and make a roux. Then I mix in a cheddar of some kind but now I think I’ll try a sharp next time. Also that venn diagram is giving me a lot of ideas as I have access to all types of cheese for relatively low cost (live in Wisconsin around multiple cheese factories).
Gouda and sharp cheddar are my go-to for homemade mac. I made one with smoked cheddar, bacon gouda, and a sage infused cheese one year for thanksgiving and it was HEAVENLY
I love your kitchen experiments! You're like my favorite cooking buddy because I always learn so much! This video actually helped me understand why my mac and cheese it good and how I can consistently make it better. Thank you!!!
So I use 5% Grana Padano/75% Sharp American-style Cheddar to 20% Velveeta, Evap Milk(DIY, so emulsifiers) , Cornstarch, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce along with the S&P.j I've tried roux, but I prefer Evap Milk. I've also tried pork stock, chicken stock, roux w/ stock, pork bone stock (Tonkotsu), and all the other local grocery stocks and Evap Milk seems to be the perfect choice to my Southern American palate.
Love it. Good, scientific methodology, good knowledge, plus a great looking template to make your own recipe. I’d love more on this (also more ways to cook good meat, especially for your type of food prep! Your braised beef video was great!)
My hack for quick boxed macaroni and cheese when I don’t want to make some from scratch. My favorite brand so far is Annie’s shells and white cheddar. Substitute a serving of plain non-fat Icelandic skyr for the milk called for in the cooking instructions. The result is tangy and creamy. It also increases the protein content without the addition of a lot of sugar or fat.
Glen from Cooking with Friends showed us how to use American cheese to make your own melty cheese for Mac n cheese. I use sliced kraft cheese with Colby Jack. Sometimes I will add a slice of Jalapeño Jack for an bit of an extra kick. It's great when you are doctoring day old box mac n cheese. Ethan can you elaborate why you use evaporated milk vs fresh? I use fresh with grate success.
My fave cheese mixture is extra sharp cheddar and asiago. Plus heavy cream. Sometimes I add cubed & sautéed ham. I also bake it with breadcrumbs on the top. I gotta make this soon.
Glad your results match m own! After lots of experimentation, I settled on a 50/50 Velveeta/Cheddar ratio, too, sometimes even a 60/40. There's just nothing like Velveeta to make it creamy!
I need to experiment with different cheese blends. I learned a recipe for mac and cheese made with mild Cheddar, milk and cornflour for sauce, and then topped with additional shredded Cheddar and put under a grill (standard UK oven feature). It was very creamy in texture (under the cheese crust) but tasted like absolute nothing. I substituted mature Cheddar and added a pinch of nutmeg to the milk, and it's been my go-to staple.
I've been trying to figure out how to cook mac and cheese properly for twenty years (off and on). I've made so much mac and cheese that just wasn't quite right; it was always too grainy or too bland and I didn't know why. This video changed my life. I get how mac and cheese works now. Thank you!
Excellent video, loved how thorough and scientific you were with the process. I'm definitely cutting my mac and cheese with 50% extra sharp cheddar from now on!
Finally something I know a lot about. I do smoked mac and it took awhile to get it right. Sodium Citrate is cheap, If you like extra sharp cheddar like I do, the creamy texture using the 75% cheddar is easy to get with it. The dryness is just a matter of adding a bit more milk.
My favorite mix of cheese I've found so far is gruyere and mozzarella in the pan, parmesan and panko on top before I stick it in the oven. I honestly don't know the ratio because I frequently just dump a bunch in and add more of one if the balance is off.
id love a video about what the best way to emulsify is. i typically do a traditional mornet, beschamel with cheese because i think its the easiest to do, the flavor and texture are always amazing, and leftovers arent too gummy or anything. if i want to eat some cold mac and cheese (which i kinda like) then it still holds up when cold. you can also reconstitute it really easily on the stove with a splash of water. i find that sodium citrate, and all of the fake cheeses that use it make the sauce very sticky and coats the mouth in a really gross way, and also loses all the slight tightness that a mornet sauce has. mornet can change in texture depending on how much roux to milk ratio you use, and i like it both thin and thick, but sodium citrate cant do anything but a runny sauce. when its cold. it loses all its moisture and becomes super nasty. ive tried some methods using pasta boiled directly in milk, adding butter and cheese and thats it. that actually has a really amazing texture, for about 1 minute. the second its off the stove it congeals and becomes inedible. i think i had a similar issue with condensed milk, but i dont remember. i only did that once and it was a while ago. a really good thing i tried was using a pasta water and cheese emulsion, and a bit of heavy cream. the flavor was really good and salty, with all that pasta water, and the heavy cream stopped it from breaking as it cooled down. definitely a top pick of mine. i have not tried any gums. anyway, i would really appreciate a video about this
I use a roux/mornay as my base, but i usually go with a very aged white cheddar plus something good and melty, usually like fontina or Muenster. I’ve never tried velveeta in my Mac and cheese, but I wouldn’t be against giving it a go. I’m a baked mac gal, though. I top mine with panko and bake it to give it crispy edges and a good top.
We do a roux with flour and butter, add milk and then our favorite cheese (Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar), which I make into cubes and add in the the sauce until they are all melted in. We then mix with premade pasta (usually small shells or elbows) and bake with no bread crumbs for 30 minutes at 350 F. That family and extended family loves this version.
Very interesting to me that you chose to coat your cheese in starch to help the melting process. Just because I have always heard (and am sure most commenters have too) that store bought shredded cheese is coated and that makes it not melt. My opinion has always been that the cheese used for shredded seems different itself plus if it was just the coating you could wash the cheese and use it normally. I’m not sure what to think now
Usually whenever i make mac n cheese i use a quarter stick of butter, a cup of milk, 70% peppered cooper sharp and 30% sharp chedder. Makes for a really good dipping cheese for nachos too. Melt butter first, then mix it with the milk. Make sure heat is decently low, probably a 3 on the temperature dial. The cooper sharp is an excellent melting cheese, so pit alot of that in first, wait for it to melt and then add sharp cheddar to taste. To me, this specific combination tastes similar to velveeta, but has a bit more of a kick to it.
I bought some sodium citrate and never again looked back. Whatever cheese I use, whatever amount I want to use, I can pretty much make it silky smooth by having the right ratio of moisture to cheese and fats. Cheeses like haloumi aside, as you rightly pointed out. Cost me about 15$ and even if I made mac and cheese every week, there'd enough in the package to last for years. Even having phases where I was eating tons of it, I'm still not halfway through the bag after two years.
As the mac'n'cheese guy of the family, this is incredibly helpful for the upcoming feasting season. My wife thought it was too dry last time, despite plenty of sauce, and this explains the cause so well.
Thanks for this. I've been binging freeze dried food channels and I would love to see you do a part 3 on the best freeze dried mac and cheeze based on what you learned here. :)
Gonna need a part 2 boss. The other three variables are interesting.
Definitely. Would love to see how a straight medium/sharp cheddar with just milk and sodium citrate stacks up
Yup, got to agree. There's a LOT more research to be done here. :D
Yes please!
Yep. Don’t leave us hanging!!
We need a finale video of him finding the "best" mac and cheese
I love that Ethan blindfolded himself during the second tasting when he chose not to shuffle the samples around because he already knows which Mac n cheese is which and he already knows what they look like because he made them. All he did was make it much harder for himself to eat, and it doesn't help that each container started off closed LOL
To all the people saying that it's a texture thing, he could have just closed his eyes after putting the Mac n cheese in his mouth lol
bro i was wondering who else would notice
I do think that getting rid of the visual aspect of eating makes you really focus on the taste. But yes, it really just made it harder for him to eat as he struggled trying to get a spoonful of pasta out of each container haha.
EXACTLY
My wife and I laughed our asses off to this
Blindfolding himself them was an important step. It removes one sense (sight). He was also mostly quiet while eating so that is sense #2 gone. That leaves his brain to solely focus on the taste and texture. The 5th sense, smell was there but he can mostly ignore that and focus on the taste and touch/texture.
Also going in order means he could really focus in on the differences going up up the % cheddar scale.
Yes it made it harder for him to eat but him doing this helped him a lot to get a better understanding of the taste and texture of each.
I totally would love a 10 part documentary series on how to make the perfect Mac and cheese
yes, covering baked options as well as stovetop, and don't spam me for saying it, perhaps even reviewing BOX and frozen options.
I was just thinking this lol
how can I thumbs up twice
@@daveweinstein5044 some frozen options can hit on a lazy day fr
@@bullmarket_hungaryuse two different TH-cam accounts
Every time Ethan takes a bite I swear he's training to break a record of some kind.
Every single time
His bites stress me out. That looks like an overwhelming amount of food, I mean the chances of choking on bites that size has to be like 4x
My personal recipe is a mix of White Cheddar, Smoked Gouda, white American, and cream cheese. It’s super rich and flavorful, and insanely creamy. I also specifically wanted my Mac n cheese to be closer to white in color than yellow. The Gouda is the only yellow cheese I use, but it’s a smaller amount in comparison because it’s so strong in flavor. Don’t underestimate cream cheese. Add a bit to whatever other cheeses you use for an extra bump in flavor and creaminess
Recipe drop?
Do you choose mild or up to extra sharp with the white cheddar? Just curious.
@@kevinanderson6558white cheddar is usually only extra sharp, and with there being so many other flavors in this mac n cheese, and extra sharp cheddar would bring it all together imo
Great tip!
Smoked Gouda is soooooo good
So first off I wanted to say that I really appreciate you doing a test with Velveeta and sharp cheddar here. I know lots of us keyboard warriors online are going to scream "Just go buy some sodium citrate!" But I think using a mix of a processed cheese, like American or Velveeta, just makes it so much more accessible. It really adds a LOT of versatility to have the recipe be all things you can find in your local grocery store rather than something you will have to special order.
Now, that said, I definitely WOULD like to see some of these sauces tested against sauce of xtra sharp cheddar, sodium citrate, and liquid. In fact I'd really like to see a test of water vs milk vs evaporated milk in that test. I have some sodium citrate, and you use so little of it that once you've got it you are set for a while; but I'd really like to know just *how* much benefit is it to use sodium citrate vs mixing with a processed cheese. Is there any benefit?
Please, make that video for us. We really want to know the answers.
+1 on wanting this video! I personally like a processed cheese blend more than all "real cheese" + sodium citrate, but I can't quite explain why. And it's possible that a flavouring cheese + melting cheese + sodium citrate blend might be better...but I trust Ethan to nail down the science of that one!
l337 A roux dilutes the cheese sauce with milk, flour and butter, and some people dislike that as much as you dislike Velveeta. You're taking up precious space, calories and flavour on a bland medium that pure cheese could occupy instead. A roux is fine for lighter cheese-included sauces or baked mac and cheese where you want more liquid at first. A processed cheese is all cheese, same with sodium citrate + real cheese.
l337 I mean, oil, milk protein, and whey are a lot closer to cheese than flour, even if they're not quite there *shrug*
Maybe we should really just buy the sodium citrate. Like I know I don’t have sodium citrate but I know it’s on Amazon and that’s hardly special ordering. And then when I think about it once you have the sodium citrate you’re set, we’d never have to buy velveeta ever again. Just using whatever you cheese you have it could be way more accessible. The one issue is I don’t love velveeta that much I get sick of it easy but idk if it’s the texture or the taste. I do know the idea of turning any tasting cheese into velveeta is very interesting to me
@CantStopTheSignal337 There are some videos on the difference between thickening the sauce with flour and creating an emulsion with sodium citrate. This channel has one on it. The sodium citrate cheese sauce has a smoother texture and will not break when reheated vs flour. You also have the added benefit of not adding filler carbs to your sauce.
Also, I hate to tell you this, but processed cheese like Velveeta is just milk and cheddar bonded together with sodium citrate salt. It is basically the same thing you can make yourself with sodium citrate. If you think Velveeta tastes like plastic, then you probably don't like cheddar cheese either. Either that or you are suffering from a placebo effect.
That venn diagram is insanely helpful. If I'm making more than just a simple stovetop Mac and cheese I typically use a young cheddar, smoked Gouda, and parmigiano reggiano to balance the flavor and texture and it's an awesome mix
i always include a smoked cheese too, sometimes smoked gouda, sometimes smoked cheddar. whew! the flavor!
Somewhat relatedly, the combination that works best for me is sharp Cheddar, young Gouda, and Swiss. Plus, believe it or not, a touch of Limburger now and then gives a very pleasant punch-up. (Plus, it's almost like cheese-following the hypothesized migration line of the longest-known root of my family tree, from around the French Alps, up through eastern Belgium and the low countries, and across the Channel to England.) As for the relative amounts of each cheese, the ratio I always use is: MORE!
Love this one. Please do more mac and cheese with the different emulsions, comparing roux, pasta water, salts, velveta, etc. as you said at the start, as well as cheese blends. There is so much to be explored here. This video was probably your best since your burger science series.
Or a mix! I do mine with a bechamel (roux + milk) to make a Mornay, but I add sodium citrate, not too much to get that weird taste, but it's silky smooth and you get the full flavour of the cheese since there is no Velveeta or cheese slices.
Ethan, with Thanksgiving coming up could you experiment with a traditional baked mac n cheese that maintains the creamy gooeyness of stovetop mac? Last year I tried one w/ sodium citrate and it could be better.
I won't be able to get to it this year, but here is what I would try!
1. Make stovetop mac & cheese ahead of time. Store in the fridge.
2. Thanksgiving day, transfer the mac to a casserole dish. Pour over some evaporated or regular milk to mix in with the cold mac. Then top with cheese/breadcrumbs/bacon.
3. Bake at 400 F until browned to your liking on top.
I think by having the cold mac & cheese mixed with the milk it will stay super creamy as it heats up in the oven and the top browns.
@@EthanChlebowski Brilliant. Me & the 5lb block of white cheddar in my fridge will have a good time trying it out. Thank you for taking the time to write that!
My secret to maintaining the gooeyness is to toss butter into the pasta as soon as I've drained the water and mix it around until it melts. Something about that fat thoroughly coating the pasta keeps it from soaking up cheese liquid while baking.
The answer youre looking for is make a traditional roux based mornay sauce style mac and cheese WITH sodium citrate. And then use a stick blender and blend until it is creamy smooth. Adding the sodium citrate gives you the ooey gooey melty sauce consistency, but the roux (when properly browned) imparts way more flavor.
@@EthanChlebowski - I had a similar question and I like your answer. However, I also wanted to ask you about adding cream cheese into the mix. I know someone who taught me that blending cream cheese and sharp cheddar results in gooey, melty cheddar, close to Velveeta texture but a bit more firm, and the cream cheese doesn't impart any taste to the final product. What do you think of this idea? I'm planning to use 2 lbs of cheese, 2pints heavy cream, 4 tbsp butter to make a cheese sauce, pour it over a pound of elbows and bake. I'm leaving out the flour (roux) because even with the citrate (2% of cheese weight), my last cheese sauce was WAY too thick, even after I cut it with 1 cup of low sodium chicken stock. My plan was 1 lb extra sharp cheddar, 1 lb Monterey Jack. Do you think using the citrate, or using an 8 oz block of Philly cream cheese, would be a better idea? Sorry for the longish post, but I wanted to be sure you had all the info so you could answer me. Love the channel. Thanks!
I love these videos, it feels like a behind the scenes look into the old cooks illustrated articles about their "best practice" kinda deals, but this way we can decide for ourselves what we think is best! Love it! Can't wait for a part 2
Ethan, you couldn't have come out with this at a better time for me. I haven't made mac and cheese in a while and I was planning to do it this weekend, so I'll be putting this knowledge to test! >:D
What do you call an fake noodle?
An impasta >:D
my dog LOVES CHEESE!!!!!!!
What did you think of Ethan's recipe? I like baking my mac n cheese with a Ritz cracker topping. I'm thinking that using equal parts of evaporated milk/cheese with pasta isn't cheesy/liquidy enough? Please let me know if you think I should amp up the liquid/cheese ratio. My son does love a super saucy mac n cheese.
use real cream cheddar and gouda. steer clear of Kraft chemical cheeses
Perfect. Throwing out my recipe for this Mac & cheese approach.
I've played around with this over the years. For me, a big thing was also for the sauce to stay liquid for as long as possible, as quite often as soon as it cools it starts to seize up.
I initially started with a 50 / 50 cheddar:american, but realised I just prefer the flavour of cheddar so much more, and the only thing american cheese contributed was the sodium citrate anyway.
So now I do a recipe that's 90% cheddar with 10% pecorino/parmigiano, and emulsify it in milk with a combination of sodium citrate and cornflour. This way I get a very smooth cheese sauce that stays liquid for a long while, whilst providing a lot of nice cheesy flavour.
how much cornflour do you use?
I do a similar thing. It's a great way to use up cheese rinds too as they have loads of flavour but are nearly inedible unless you melt them into something. Try doing it exactly the same but with blue cheese on steaks and burgers.
Another important thing that I don't think he mentioned (might have missed it) is how much the sodium citrate helps with REHEATING. When you have the sodium citrate + evaporated milk combo, mac n cheese reheats SO much better in the microwave.
Would love to see the next video be you testing the different ways to stabilize the cheese sauce! I generally make a bechamel and then add cheese, then stir the cooked pasta through that once the cheese has melted.
Pretty much the best way imho. Mixing with a processed American plastic cheese is disgusting and makes the meal less wholesome. A simple roux/ bechamel sauce with a good cheddar will make a good creamy macaroni cheese.
What cheeses do you like to use? @@kavasir7042
@@kavasir7042 it is the superior recipe
I am really grateful for your videos. I've never thought about combining cheeses to harness their best traits into one dish. On a separate note, I got a good laugh out of you blindfolding yourself at the end despite knowing which ones you were eating
I did too! Then I realized he was trying to focus on his sense of taste (and probably smell) to get those dialed in and not be influenced by the creamy vs drier look. But I was right there with you at first! lol
@@italiana626scHaha that’s exactly why I still decided to blind fold. Wanted to eliminate my sight to really focus in on the texture, smell, and taste!
I was leaving at that point. Then I thought about it and then came around too! I finally got it.@@EthanChlebowski
@@EthanChlebowskiYees, but you also eat with your eyes, as every good food marketer knows!
Hi Ethan I just subscribed to your channel, and this is the second video I watched on your channel. (The first one I saw was your haluska video)
I wanted to say that I thought this video was so awesome and well detailed. Mac and cheese is a really nostalgic food to me, after cooking eggs and toast boxed Mac and cheese was the first meal I learned to cook as an 8 year old kid.
The way you elevate this dish through your research was very reverential. And that’s awesome.
I'd love a second video about emulsifiers! I have a bag of sodium citrate that I've been using pretty effectively for my mac n cheeses, would be great to know the variances on ratios and/or if there are better options.
If you buy citric acid at Ace Hardware (they have it for canning in the kitchen aisle) and mix it with baking soda and water, it will chemically react and you'll get sodium citrate. It's fun to watch the chemical reaction fizz. I add the solution to Mac and cheese and it works well.
Been praying for a mac n cheese deep dive for a while now, it was my go to meal in uni and seeing it broken down into food science has made me wanna go back and experiment some more!
This topic definitely feels worthy of a deep dive.
It feels like this just scratched the surface, and has so much more potential to learn a lot more about this process and how it works
Literally the best Mac N Cheese I ever made was when me and my friends were drunk off our rocker and we were all hungry. So I decided to cook up a quick Mac N Cheese with the following ratios (approximately!):
20% Pecorino
30% Mild Cheddar
50% American Cheese
As well as a healthy dosing of pasta water!
Use MSG instead of salt because the Pecorino is salty by itself!
Top with Pre-ground black pepper (it just tastes right on Mac N Cheese)
Top-notch stuff, glad to see that the 50/50 split of Melting to Flavoring cheese is indeed the desired ratio for most optimized Smoothness and Taste! :D
While drunk off your rocker you were able to measure percentages?
@@bluecup25 It's not that tough to eyeball.
@@taciturntacitus7745 And how do you know it was 20% and not 15%?
@bluecup25 he said approximately, no need to be so particular about it lmao
@@bluecup25 It's not hard to divide ingredients into percentages
Say you used 5 cups of cheese or something along those lines. 1 cup would be pecorino, 1 1/2 cup would be mild cheddar, and then 2 1/2 cups would be american. Pretty simple, and applicable to any recipe with some division.
When I make mac&cheese I always make it baked. I make a béchamel sauce and add 60% Velvetta, 30% extra sharp cheddar and 10% Parmigiano Reggiano. It seems to have the correct ratio of creaminess and bite of cheese that I find irresistible.
This sounds amazing man lol.
I was just looking through the comments to see if anyone else uses a mornay! I've never seen Mac and Cheese made this way!
My aunt has been making her own my whole life for the holidays; I’m 28 now. She mixes multiple for a baked Mac and cheese. It’s a old recipe from her father… I went to culinary school and everything and hers is better😂🤦🏻♂️
From what I know you want a of balance between thickness, pull, flavor, smoothness/silkiness, and a somewhat cheese top crunch… it’s apparently a science her father spent his life perfecting and she learned watching him hundreds of times.
Edit: I’m so sorry to everyone asking. I don’t know the recipe at all. 😂😂ima failure ik. All Ik she makes a cheese sauce/bechamel, uses whole milk and real butter, she uses velveeta. She really only makes it for holidays like thanksgiving and Christmas.
Recipe please😊
Mate gonna need that.
What's the recipe
I'm surprised this doesn't have more recipes please... Recipe please 😅😊 also that is a entirely too short heart warming story
Please share her recipe, thanks
I make Mac & Cheese starting with a Roux made (usually) with Bacon Fat, then into a Bechamel, garlic and other seasonings, then I add a variety of cheeses to make a Mornay Sauce. This is where I was curious -- which variety of cheeses should I use? My go-to currently is some American, Sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack and/or Swiss or Gouda. I have tried adding some Parmesan, some Mozzarella, some Mexican crumbling cheese, smoked provolone -- I'm willing to try all kinds of varieties.
However, I think that the Mornay Sauce, while it is a little more work, makes a superior Mac & Cheese. I usually make the baked version, with either a crumb topping (Panko, butter, salt and Parmesan) or those French Fried Onions. I've tried add-ins like crumbled bacon, chopped pepperoni, cooked spicy sausage, caramelized onions.
I would love to see you try a variety of cheeses to see which combination is superior.
I agree with you. Maybe because I am Canadian, I have never made the type of Mac and cheese in this video. Like you, I always start with a roux…adding onion to the butter first then the milk and a ton of extra old cheddar and a pinch of cayenne. Panko or breadcrumb topping and baked. I would miss the crunchy topping if I only had the stovetop version. The flavor of the extra old cheddar is excellent but it does end up a bit grainy. I am going to try mixing another cheese in. I love your idea of incorporating the crispy onions on top.
One of my favorite cheese to use is cotswold. Other times I’ll go for smoked gouda. I also always make a roux for the base.
Parrano and gruyere is the best mac n cheese "flavor cheese" blend. Beechers if you're on the west coast is good too.
My melting go to is a fontina or Raclette.
I usually do a 50/50 blend. Very curious about the optimal ratio, though.
Edit: just finished the video- good to know the 50/50 is recommended!
Thanks!
The recipe I use for 1lb of pasta is 6tbsp butter Roux, 12oz evap milk, 12oz cream, 16oz velveeta, 8oz extra sharp, 8oz gruyere, 8oz fresh parm. So it works out to 43oz of goo, 24oz of flavoring cheese. Makes a fantastic thanksgiving mac
This is my quickest subscribed channel in a while. It’s better than simple review videos. There’s scientific method and then conclusions
Comté makes a really good flavoring cheese, either on its own or with extra sharp cheddar. My father (may he rest in peace) used to make a really good mac and cheese with tuna that paired really well with it.
I really want to make Mac & Cheese! For cauliflower and broccoli cheese I use a 1:1:1 mix of gouder, smoked red Leicester, and extra mature cheddar, (melted into a white sauce base). This is the mix I settled on because doesn't degrade or harden up when reheating in a microwave making it perfect for a hot lunch at the office.
Varying the amount of liquid just slightly would change the whole game again. Especially considering the time variant: Instantly devouring it vs waiting just five minutes is already a huge difference in perceives dryness. Btw, don't forget your corn starch gel video. This could be applied here, too.
A hallmark for mac n cheese is that processed Velveeta cheese its so good and the texture is amazing, I'm so glad you posted a video on this. One I recommend is 50% velveeta 25% Cheddar and 25% smoked gouda. The aroma of the gouda and the taste of the cheddar and the smoothness of the velveeta makes it one of my favorites so far.
My favorite Mac and cheese is with a Béchamel sauce and a combination of Gruyere and Fontina cheeses. So yeah, there are a ton of variables for sure!
Mornay
Thanks for all that you do Ethan! Whenever I want a recipe (or deep dive) I can just search your vids and find not only the recipe but full explanation of why, how etc. you are literally teaching me to understand my ingredients and science behind cooking. Anyway love your work, thanks for Sunshine Coast Australia.
Great video Ethan! I'd be really interested in seeing the other 3 tests you mentioned about noodle shape etc to determine the ultimate stove top max & cheese!
My fav is 40gr US PARM, 40gr American and 40gr Extra Sharp Ched. Roux of 2Tbsp Butter 2Tblsp Flour. 8oz Whole Milk. Salt, Black Pepper, and Cayenne. Parm and Ched can be grainy so make sure the Beshamel is bubbling well when you add Parm and Ched cause they need higher temp to melt well.
Your problem is using evaporated milk. I use a butter/flour roux with 1/2&1/2, then add somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 extra sharp cheddar. After I add the pasta, I finish with a tablespoon or two of heavy cream. Silky smooth with no dryness. I will say that I use grocery store Extra Sharp Cheddar (like Kraft, etc.) not an premium aged Vermont cheddar, or something like that.
A touch of blue cheese really unlocks the flavor of mac and cheese. So far for me the best method is to toast a roux until goden, then add in paprika, black pepper, mustard powder, and cayenne. Whole milk for the béchamel, then add in 3/4 sharp cheddar and 1/4 blue cheese. I bet you could easily replace some of that sharp cheddar with velveeta here to maintain creaminess, although whenever I made it it was always perfectly creamy and ever so slightly stretchy. toasted panko is perfect for a garnish and nutmeg can also go into the spice blend if you like
Try a 50/50 blend of Havarti and Aged Cheddar. It's incredible with mac & cheese, and especially if you mix in some smoked brisket or something to really bump up that flavor.
Mac and cheese is an easy top 5 foods for me. Using Velveeta as a texture improver has been my go to for years now!
I find the best results come from using a roux based sauce with about 25% half-and-half or coffee cream to 75% milk. Then a light, light pinch of fresh nutmeg and cayenne. Season well with salt and a little black pepper.
I find the 25/75 mix of Velveeta to old/sharp cheddar works well with the roux based sauce.
Chef kiss
Hey everyone, I used Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce to add flavor to my mac and chese. I don't know the prices in the US, but I know good cheese is expensive. I live in France so I have a huge variety of cheeses to choose from (and some are really expensive here too), but I thought maybe the sauce was an alternative to help a bland cheese. I do mine with roux and heavy cream + bacon and lots of cheese AND the sauce, and Dijon mustard. Then of course, I bake it with lots of cheese on to create the perfect blend of creamy insides and crispy top... The taste is amazing, but my recipe is not cheap ;-) My nephew loves it
Ok this is literally the most in depth video on mac & cheese ever!!! Keep up the good work!!!!
For those who don't like Velveeta they can always switch it with cream cheese. cream cheese makes great macaroni cheese if you blend it with other cheese right.
I tend to be a Sodium Citrate mac and cheese kind of guy, since you can get that ultra smooth texture without having to account for it with velveeta. I also tend to like using different cheeses depending on the composition of the dish. I'll use a milder monetary jack and mozzarella mix whenever I include bacon in the pasta, since I think the saltiness of cheddar gets overwhelming when mixed with the bacon. But I'll use stronger cheeses (gouda, cheddar, or gruyere if I'm feeling fancy) with chicken dishes. A bit half and half for hamburger.
Tapioca flour/starch has better flavor and thickening properties than cornstarch. The other thing that helps is boiling the shells in your frying pan and just reducing the water you boiled the noodles in to build the sauce. Add your starch to a jar of cold water and shake to incorporate, then add small amounts to the hot pan until you get what you're looking for. Also, you should build your sauce with cream and use champagne or white vinegar to knock down the sweetness. Only thing your missing is little smokies fried in a separate pan and mixed in while still hot and crispy right before serving. Maybe toss in a ramekin top with cheese and melt and crisp up the cheese topping under a broiler. If you go the broiler route you overcook the noodles, so you have to offset that by intentionally undercooking the noodles in the pan to end up with el dente noodles coming out of the oven. Technical mac and cheese is a super hard target to hit, it goes sideways real quick.
Good info Ethan. I always do a roux and two to three cheeses. Roux's are tricky because you have to watch it well over several minutes as you try to cook out the flour taste and not burn it. Velveeta, what can you say. Most of us learned early to make our first Mac n cheeses with this product. It's smooth. Recently I learned about sodium citrate and how to make your own at home and am looking forward to going down this rabbit hole. You are right. It's fun to experiment. Cheers
I think we need another video where you dive deeper into the equation and test different options. I always use butter for mac and cheese and I like to use other cheeses like fontina or gruyere for the cheese flavors. I would love to see you blind taste test these different options to find the optimal combos
I know! The more I thought about this, there are almost unlimited things that could be tested!
Looking at the diagram my mind went mush with the variety of cheese options. You gave us a starting point. Thanks bro @@EthanChlebowski
@@EthanChlebowski Please do! But could you keep it to the more common cheeses? Most people wouldn't know where to get Gruyere, for example.
@@fieryvale American spotted lol, in Europe every supermarket sells gruyere
@@euansmith7059 Yep! I live in the South. The cheese options here are surprisingly limited.
I've been doing 45/45/10 combination of Velveeta, sharp cheddar, and parmesan and it tastes great. Melt that with evaporated milk, some sodium citrate to keep everything smooth, and optionally some cayenne pepper and smoked paprika, and it's pretty incredible.
I do a baked Mac and Cheese with a bechamel-based sauce. My ratios are 3 tbs butter and flour, 2 cups milk (I usually use 2%), 1/4 tsp dried mustard, 8 oz of extra sharp cheddar, and 1/2 lb of pasta. I find that extra sharp cheddar works best there since the sauce provides so much more liquid.
that sounds amazing!
one thing i appreciate your videos is that you take it from a culinary standpoint and making sure we as the audience have the foundation and key stuff down first. Really helped me grasp that cooking isnt super complex but figuring out which works well together and from there do the magic.
One thing I have been experimenting with when I make Mac n. Cheese lately is to use a combination of a smooth melting cheese (like an American or Jack cheese) and a very sharp cheddar and then (this is the secret) hit it with an immersion blender to really emulsify the sauce before adding the pasta.
When the wife makes Mac and cheese for the holidays from scratch, I always tell her to add one slice of American cheese for the sodium citrate to help smooth out the cheese. She still doesn’t understand until AFTER she tastes it. This is after nearly four years of marriage and it’s always the same every year. Love that woman to death.
The one cheese I find indispensable for making mac and cheese, au gratin potatoes, and just cooking in general is Kerrygold Dubliner. It's a unique cheese that's kinda of like cheddar, kind of like parmesan, but ultimately distinct from either of those. It's very easy to grate and creates a rich, creamy sauce. I buy 1.5lb blocks from Sam's Club and always have it in my fridge. Decent snacking cheese, and while I haven't tried it yet, I suspect it is close enough to parmesan to be used in Alfredo sauce too.
I think I have a weird palate, because my issue with processed cheese isn't that it's bland and flavorless like I typically hear from chefs and food influencers. On the contrary, for me it has a very distinct flavor I dislike and cuts through most other things it's paired with (it's a weird slightly bitter taste). On top of that, it gets so gooey that it sticks inside my mouth, so I get to experience that disagreeable taste for an extended period.
Just something that crossed my mind while watching the taste test
I needed to see something like this to get over my hesitance to try to find a good combination. Great starting point, nice and detailed. Thank you!
I'm going to need all the Mac and cheese test videos 😂
My non-traditional recipe: I've always used extra sharp cheddar and a good portion of parm (either Parmesan or Parmigiano Reggiano) and I'm usually too much in a hurry to measure. The roux is butter, flour and 2% milk. Trotrolle pasta works well and I usually add cooked broccoli, cauliflower and/or cherry tomatoes to make it "healthy" of course. Baked with bread crumbs on top...delicious!
What’s so great about Mac n cheese is it’s incredibly customizable. Everyone has a preferred noodle, cheese, texture etc and it’s interesting seeing how they all come together to make something so lovely. I’m currently on my own journey to rate as many boxed macs in my lifetime as possible purely based on my own preferences and it’s been fun to experiment and add things to boxed ones that didnt quite hit the mark but could be really improved on.
Pro tip, never try the ketchup cheetos Mac n cheese it’s literally just ketchup and noodles and no one needs to experience that
One of the tricks I really like (iirc from America's test kitchen) to bump up the flavor a bit is adding a bit of dijon mustard and cayenne.
I'd also be interested in seeing if baking the Mac n cheese would have an effect on the different percentages. Maybe the 75% because the baking gives it more time to meld with the noodle or maybe the 25% pull ahead because the other two start to exhibit stronger dry flavors.
I always do 50% American, 25% cheddar, 25% asiago. White cheddar melts extremely well too and the flavor is much more potent than a mild or medium cheddar, I have found.
I melt butter in the pan with my milk/half n half/whipping cream (depends on what we have in the house) and then add the melty cheeses first, then once those have all emulsified, I turn it to low heat and whisk in the sharper cheeses. Works like a charm.
Also, if you want an extra thick texture, you can boil your noodles in milk and don't drain them. The pasta starch thickens the milk once they're al dente, and it makes a very rich flavor. However, it's quite challenging to eat lots of it in one sitting, so it's better to have that as a side dish and not the main course.
I suggest to all Mac & Cheese lovers to try Käsespätzle if you ever get the chance
And where do we find that?
@@2malsahm59 in bavarian or austrian restaurants, or you make your own, it's a bit more work than mac & cheese though
Dude, you did great work on this. I was finally able to make the kind of mac and cheese I've been trying to (and failing at) for years with this approach.
Best cheese is subjective depending on taste preference. Find the best combo that works for you and enjoy!
Interesting video and hope you make more about this topic. If I make homemade Mac and cheese I use American cheese and make a roux. Then I mix in a cheddar of some kind but now I think I’ll try a sharp next time. Also that venn diagram is giving me a lot of ideas as I have access to all types of cheese for relatively low cost (live in Wisconsin around multiple cheese factories).
I appreciate everything you do Ethan! Thank you for helping me understand how to think about being a cook
Gouda and sharp cheddar are my go-to for homemade mac. I made one with smoked cheddar, bacon gouda, and a sage infused cheese one year for thanksgiving and it was HEAVENLY
I love your kitchen experiments! You're like my favorite cooking buddy because I always learn so much! This video actually helped me understand why my mac and cheese it good and how I can consistently make it better. Thank you!!!
I love how scientific your videos are. I really appreciate the knowledge I gain from your channel.
10:24 Hence why velveta and white cheddar make a good queso, id also add a can of rotel, chorizo, smoked chillis and asiago to emuslify it better
Love the idea behind this, will definitely help inform my mac and cheese escapades in the future. Hope you do those other three videos you mentioned!
So I use 5% Grana Padano/75% Sharp American-style Cheddar to 20% Velveeta, Evap Milk(DIY, so emulsifiers) , Cornstarch, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce along with the S&P.j
I've tried roux, but I prefer Evap Milk. I've also tried pork stock, chicken stock, roux w/ stock, pork bone stock (Tonkotsu), and all the other local grocery stocks and Evap Milk seems to be the perfect choice to my Southern American palate.
Love it. Good, scientific methodology, good knowledge, plus a great looking template to make your own recipe. I’d love more on this (also more ways to cook good meat, especially for your type of food prep! Your braised beef video was great!)
My hack for quick boxed macaroni and cheese when I don’t want to make some from scratch. My favorite brand so far is Annie’s shells and white cheddar. Substitute a serving of plain non-fat Icelandic skyr for the milk called for in the cooking instructions. The result is tangy and creamy. It also increases the protein content without the addition of a lot of sugar or fat.
with all the craziness in the world, i come to Ethan's channel to relax and forget. Keep doing what you're doing
Love these comparison videos. Super helpful. Also, your mustache is absolutely fantastic.
Ok tried and how u decided to make it is a 9/10, only change i made is adding like 20-30% more milk as i like a thinner sauce. But really delicious!
Glen from Cooking with Friends showed us how to use American cheese to make your own melty cheese for Mac n cheese. I use sliced kraft cheese with Colby Jack. Sometimes I will add a slice of Jalapeño Jack for an bit of an extra kick. It's great when you are doctoring day old box mac n cheese. Ethan can you elaborate why you use evaporated milk vs fresh? I use fresh with grate success.
My fave cheese mixture is extra sharp cheddar and asiago. Plus heavy cream. Sometimes I add cubed & sautéed ham. I also bake it with breadcrumbs on the top. I gotta make this soon.
Glad your results match m own! After lots of experimentation, I settled on a 50/50 Velveeta/Cheddar ratio, too, sometimes even a 60/40. There's just nothing like Velveeta to make it creamy!
ive been watching nothing but mac and cheese videos the past 2weeks thank u for posting this for me
I need to experiment with different cheese blends.
I learned a recipe for mac and cheese made with mild Cheddar, milk and cornflour for sauce, and then topped with additional shredded Cheddar and put under a grill (standard UK oven feature). It was very creamy in texture (under the cheese crust) but tasted like absolute nothing. I substituted mature Cheddar and added a pinch of nutmeg to the milk, and it's been my go-to staple.
I've been trying to figure out how to cook mac and cheese properly for twenty years (off and on). I've made so much mac and cheese that just wasn't quite right; it was always too grainy or too bland and I didn't know why. This video changed my life. I get how mac and cheese works now. Thank you!
I had given up, lol. All mac'n'cheese I've ever made has had zero flavor. Thanks to this video, I am willing to try again!
I love this scientific aproach, and the fact that you provide written version too!
Thank you.
Excellent video, loved how thorough and scientific you were with the process. I'm definitely cutting my mac and cheese with 50% extra sharp cheddar from now on!
Ethan, thanks for sharing and for breaking down the results of the different mixtures/types of cheese! 🙂😋
one of my favorite things about mr chlebowski is how he doesn't just do A/B testing, but fills in the gaps by varying a variable nice and continuously
Finally something I know a lot about. I do smoked mac and it took awhile to get it right. Sodium Citrate is cheap, If you like extra sharp cheddar like I do, the creamy texture using the 75% cheddar is easy to get with it. The dryness is just a matter of adding a bit more milk.
My favorite mix of cheese I've found so far is gruyere and mozzarella in the pan, parmesan and panko on top before I stick it in the oven. I honestly don't know the ratio because I frequently just dump a bunch in and add more of one if the balance is off.
id love a video about what the best way to emulsify is. i typically do a traditional mornet, beschamel with cheese because i think its the easiest to do, the flavor and texture are always amazing, and leftovers arent too gummy or anything. if i want to eat some cold mac and cheese (which i kinda like) then it still holds up when cold. you can also reconstitute it really easily on the stove with a splash of water.
i find that sodium citrate, and all of the fake cheeses that use it make the sauce very sticky and coats the mouth in a really gross way, and also loses all the slight tightness that a mornet sauce has. mornet can change in texture depending on how much roux to milk ratio you use, and i like it both thin and thick, but sodium citrate cant do anything but a runny sauce. when its cold. it loses all its moisture and becomes super nasty.
ive tried some methods using pasta boiled directly in milk, adding butter and cheese and thats it. that actually has a really amazing texture, for about 1 minute. the second its off the stove it congeals and becomes inedible.
i think i had a similar issue with condensed milk, but i dont remember. i only did that once and it was a while ago.
a really good thing i tried was using a pasta water and cheese emulsion, and a bit of heavy cream. the flavor was really good and salty, with all that pasta water, and the heavy cream stopped it from breaking as it cooled down. definitely a top pick of mine.
i have not tried any gums. anyway, i would really appreciate a video about this
I use a roux/mornay as my base, but i usually go with a very aged white cheddar plus something good and melty, usually like fontina or Muenster. I’ve never tried velveeta in my Mac and cheese, but I wouldn’t be against giving it a go. I’m a baked mac gal, though. I top mine with panko and bake it to give it crispy edges and a good top.
We do a roux with flour and butter, add milk and then our favorite cheese (Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar), which I make into cubes and add in the the sauce until they are all melted in. We then mix with premade pasta (usually small shells or elbows) and bake with no bread crumbs for 30 minutes at 350 F. That family and extended family loves this version.
I really Love Mac and Cheese - I put cheese on Top and sometimes Ranch to make it more Creamy and its so good
Very interesting to me that you chose to coat your cheese in starch to help the melting process. Just because I have always heard (and am sure most commenters have too) that store bought shredded cheese is coated and that makes it not melt. My opinion has always been that the cheese used for shredded seems different itself plus if it was just the coating you could wash the cheese and use it normally. I’m not sure what to think now
Usually whenever i make mac n cheese i use a quarter stick of butter, a cup of milk, 70% peppered cooper sharp and 30% sharp chedder. Makes for a really good dipping cheese for nachos too.
Melt butter first, then mix it with the milk. Make sure heat is decently low, probably a 3 on the temperature dial. The cooper sharp is an excellent melting cheese, so pit alot of that in first, wait for it to melt and then add sharp cheddar to taste. To me, this specific combination tastes similar to velveeta, but has a bit more of a kick to it.
I bought some sodium citrate and never again looked back. Whatever cheese I use, whatever amount I want to use, I can pretty much make it silky smooth by having the right ratio of moisture to cheese and fats. Cheeses like haloumi aside, as you rightly pointed out.
Cost me about 15$ and even if I made mac and cheese every week, there'd enough in the package to last for years. Even having phases where I was eating tons of it, I'm still not halfway through the bag after two years.
As the mac'n'cheese guy of the family, this is incredibly helpful for the upcoming feasting season. My wife thought it was too dry last time, despite plenty of sauce, and this explains the cause so well.
Thanks for this. I've been binging freeze dried food channels and I would love to see you do a part 3 on the best freeze dried mac and cheeze based on what you learned here. :)
Great video as always!
Question, why use the blindfold on the last test, where you knew which was which?